Timothy R. Smith, the attorney for Nicole Dufault, the Columbia High School teacher under indictment for alleged sexual assault of six students, will argue that a brain injury left her defenseless against the students’ “aggressive” behavior.
“Ms. Dufault suffers from frontal lobe syndrome which has rendered her defenseless to over-aggressive behavior, and that is exactly what she was exposed to,” said Smith in a statement sent from his office Tuesday. “Such will be our defense to a number of counts to the indictment. The remaining counts are either legally deficient or resulted from opportunistic tendencies.”
A judge recently downgraded some charges against Dufault, who was indicted in February on 40 counts of aggravated sexual assault and endangering the welfare of a child, according to reports. The sexual assault charges against Dufault still stand as originally charged.
Smith had previously asserted that Dufault’s alleged medical history would factor significantly in his defense. In February, he told The Village Green that Dufault’s “brain trauma and surgery” had “rendered her particularly vulnerable to the students’ wolf pack mentality.”
