Last year Maplewood, New Jersey language arts teacher Nicole Dufault was charged in a 40-count indictment alleging she had sex with six students on multiple occasions between 2013 and 2014. This past week a judge ruled that her charges will still stand despite a motion for dismissal by her lawyer. The nine-year language arts teacher will stand trial for aggravated sexual assault and endangering the welfare of a child.
The details of her crimes are sordidly laid out in an NJ.com report from this past summer:
As several students later gave statements to police, a fuller picture of Dufault’s alleged sexual relationships with six male students emerged – her promise to alter school records in exchange for sex, the sex in her classroom, the oral sex in her car in the parking lot of a Burger King.
Previously, Dufault’s lawyers claimed that brain trauma had left her “vulnerable to the students,” as NJ.com reported in July. Her lawyer told the newspaper that this made her the victim:
“I feel confident in stating and firmly believe in my heart that there is only one victim, not six, and that victim is Nicole Dufault,” Smith said. “If justice is served, not only should Ms. Dufault be fully exonerated, she should also be compensated by those directly and indirectly responsible for her tragic victimization.”
So what are the particulars of the surgery itself? Via a later NJ.com article:
Timothy Smith, Nicole Dufault’s attorney, claimed that she “suffers from frontal lobe syndrome which has rendered her defenseless to over-aggressive behavior, and that is exactly what she was exposed to.”
Dufault – a single mother of two young sons – developed the syndrome after brain surgery she underwent following complications due to her first pregnancy, Smith said.
Now that the charges stand as of Tuesday, it will be interesting to see how the court reacts to this defense.
NOW WATCH: This Teacher Almost Got Fired Because Parents Thought Her Instagram Photos Were Too Sexy