Kaminski Abandons Plea Deal; Trial Scheduled for October

By Anvi Bhate, Beeke Fock, Sylvia Langer, Emi Levine, and Ellie Ana Sperantsas

On Friday, Feb. 11, former Math Instructor Szczesny “Jerzy” Kaminski was scheduled to plead guilty to three counts of aggravated felonious assault and one misdemeanor count of sexual assault as a part of a negotiated plea deal with prosecutors to resolve the case. 

The morning of the trial, his attorney Amy Spencer appeared before the Rockingham Superior Court to inform the court of Kaminski’s plea deal withdrawal. Kaminski went against Spencer’s advice  and opted for a trial. The trial is scheduled during the week of Oct. 31 to Nov. 7. Spencer is no longer representing Kaminski in court. 

Attorney Christina Dunn, who represents the victim of the alleged crimes, told Seacoast Online News, “As far as the survivor and her family are concerned, they thought this was a done deal and they were finally going to get their justice.” 

“It feels to them like another betrayal,” Dunn continued. “She was betrayed for years when he sexually abused her when he was her teacher at Phillips Exeter and this feels like another betrayal because he was supposed to plead guilty and now, he’s not going to.” 

Dean of Students Russell Weatherspoon notified the school about this update in an all-school email sent on Feb. 11. “This unexpected turn of events creates fresh, heavy burdens on the survivor, her family and others,” Weatherspoon wrote. He also informed students that the pre-planned events offered to students would still stand in place. The events included open spaces to talk in Phillips Church, opportunities to talk with CAPS counselors, Principal Rawson drop-in “office hours,” OMA drop-in hours, a discussion and healing circle in Thompson Gym, and a solidarity walk. 

Some students felt distressed in lieu of this recent news. Upper and co-head of Fem Club Jennifer Finklestein expressed her thoughts on Kaminski’s withdrawal of the plea. “I think it really speaks to the terrible person Kaminski was that he wasn’t willing to grant closure and drag on the process, especially against legal advice, selfishly,” Finklestein said. “It’s upsetting to me. I also wanted closure. I am kind of nervous for the beginning of next year. There’s going to be perhaps the [rising] lowers that will be reminded of this within the first month of school. It’s just a deja vu of what happened this year.”

The Academy has had a long history of sexual assualt cases involing teachers and their students. The publication of the Vanity Fair exposé in Sept. 2021 titled “Mr. Weber’s Confession” detailed the significant flaws in the Academy’s sexual assualt policies and how they are handled. This sparked major backlash from current and former students, with a student-led protest occurring shortly after the publication of the article outside the Academy Building. Students skipped assembly and instead heard about the unfair pressures and burdens placed on student leaders during that time. It was evident that the administration was not doing its role in helping students process their thoughts and emotions regarding the information in the article. 

In response to this protest, Principal Rawson made a statement saying he and various student leaders were collaborating together to improve the Academy’s sexual assualt policies. On Feb. 8, days before the Kaminski trial, Rawson sent out a similar email. The email provided an update on the Academy’s ongoing work to revise its protocols for responding to reports of student sexual misconduct or assault. 

In the email, Rawson said that, currently, “a student who wants to report sexual misconduct or assault will be able to report to any trusted adult. The student then will be given a ‘support coordinator’— a new position that we are creating—to provide support throughout the investigation. The support coordinator could be a professionally trained faculty member or could be our experienced Director of Student Well-Being.” 

“Resources available to the reporting student during the investigation will include, in addition to the support coordinator: their adviser, the trusted adult, counselor(s), deans, a HAVEN advocate, and the Director of Student Well-Being,” Rawson continued. “The trusted adult, adviser and support coordinator also will have multiple resources available, as needed, throughout the investigation.” 

He assured the student body that the Academy is “consulting with external experts on our proposed changes, including experienced case investigators and experts from HAVEN and RAINN (Rape, Abuse, Incest National Network), and have consulted with adults on campus who have been involved in past cases in different capacities.” 

The administration has also sought feedback in meetings with student leaders of EASA, Fem Club and Transitions, and “has looked at similar processes at peer schools.” 

“We will present the changes to Student Council for feedback, as we did when we revised the process in 2019; of course, we will also present them to the faculty, who approve changes to the E-Book,” Rawson wrote. 

He closed off the email by writing, “This is important work and we will continue to pursue it with urgency.” 

The email mentions multiple times the Director of Student Well-Being, Christina Palmer, who came under scrutiny by students shortly following the Vanity Fair article. In the article, Nancy Sales talked about Palmer’s role in Weber’s case, as well as with another case involving two students that occurred during Sales’ time at Exeter. Sales claimed Palmer failed to handle either situation appropriately, and current students were concerned about the reporting and handling process of sexual assault cases.