ACCUSED CHS TEACHER'S LAWYER IS THE GO-TO ATTORNEY FOR STUDENT-TEACHER SEX CASES

Timothy Smith

The attorney for accused Columbia High School teacher Nicole Dufault is also handling a teacher in a similar case that broke this week and appears to be the go-to lawyer for teachers accused of sex with students.

Timothy Smith has been representing Dufault since she was arrested last fall and charged with having sex with at least five under-aged CHS students. She remains out on bail.

As for Smith, NJ.com reports this week that he is defending a Mendham High School teacher, Nicole McDonough, who is accused of sex with an 18-year-old student and also handled a similar case earlier in the year.

NJ.com writes:

Smith said the theory that sex with a student — who at 18 is an adult in the eyes of the law — is by itself an "unauthorized exercise of official functions" has already been legally disproven.

In a similar Middlesex County case earlier this year, Superior Court Judge Bradley Ferencz dismissed an indictment charging Piscataway teacher Adrian McConney, 36, with one count of official misconduct for having a sexual relationship with an 18-year-old female student.

The judge ruled that the relationship was not unlawful because the student was 18 years old. Therefore, although the act was unauthorized, the official misconduct charge could not stand, the judge said.

Smith represented McConney in that case. The judge's order is now under appeal by the Middlesex prosecutor's office, which has contended that sex with a public school student is illegal under New Jersey law.