The consensus among the nine women and three men who heard the criminal case against suspended Plum Senior High School teacher Drew Zoldak was that he was wrong for telling his students he’d been interviewed about an ongoing investigation of institutional sexual assault at the school.
But, they also agreed Monday, his behavior April 20, 2015, was not illegal.
“We couldn’t see he intended to go in there and do harm to the case,” said a juror who asked not to be named.
Mr. Zoldak, 41, went to trial on one count of witness intimidation after investigators said he singled out the victim of former teacher Joseph Ruggieri in his class that morning. Students asked him why he had been absent the previous Friday, and he told them he was being interviewed by detectives. When asked why, prosecutors said, Mr. Zoldak pointed at Ruggieri’s victim and said, “Because of her.”
The jury found Mr. Zoldak not guilty after deliberating about 90 minutes Monday. Not all jurors were convinced that Mr. Zoldak actually pointed out the young woman, but still they didn’t like his actions.
“We all agreed he was wrong in what he did,” the unnamed juror said.
During his own testimony, Mr. Zoldak agreed that he probably should have told his students something else to explain his absence.
The victim testified last week that Mr. Zoldak’s actions caused her to question her decision to testify against the teacher who assaulted her, Ruggieri, and cooperate with the police.
But defense attorney Alexander Lindsay argued in closings that even if what she testified to was true, did it rise to the level of intimidating a witness?
“This isn’t the crime of making someone feel bad,” he said. “This isn’t the crime of embarrassing someone. This crime is designed to keep people from trying to interfere with the system of justice.
“This is a horrible thing for him. It’s a train that just doesn’t want to stop. You have the power to make it stop,” he told jurors.
Among the elements of the crime the jury needed to find beyond a reasonable doubt was that Mr. Zoldak intended to stop the victim from testifying or cooperating.
“Do you recall any evidence whatsoever, even if you believe her, that would fit into one of those areas?” Mr. Lindsay asked jurors. “Isn’t it more likely she was upset because she was exposed that she was this person who had an affair with a teacher?”
Assistant district attorney Brian Catanzarite zeroed in on the defense attorney’s words in his closing, noting that Mr. Zoldak told the detectives who interviewed him, “‘Well, doesn’t it take two to tango?’”
“As in, well, can’t we just blame the victims?” Mr. Catanzarite said. “It happened again in closings. Did you catch it? She was embarrassed about what she did. Not about what the adult teacher did. Let’s blame the victim again.”
Mr. Catanzarite argued that just because all of the students in the classroom didn’t hear what Mr. Zoldak said — several students testified for the defense that their teacher never called out the victim — didn’t mean it wasn’t a crime.
“That intimidation, ladies and gentlemen, doesn’t have to be in a group. A one-on-one conversation is all it takes.
“When Mr. Zoldak did it, it broke her. Did he know what he did that day would impede her ability to be a witness in a sexual assault case? Her world was upside down, and he calls her out in class.”