A New Jersey appeals court has ordered a new trial for a former Rutgers University professor now serving prison time for having a sexual relationship with a mentally disabled man related to one of her students.
The three-judge Appellate Division panel, in a published decision, said Marjorie Anna Stubblefield, the former chairwoman of the university’s philosophy department, was denied a fair trial when the trial judge refused to admit testimony about a controversial communications technique that Stubblefield claimed demonstrated that the man, identified only as D.J., understood and agreed to the sexual relationship.
