Term Paper Cheating Case in Judges’ Hands
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Judges must decide who's the cheater.
Cristina Duquette, of Watertown, says she did not cheat three years ago by copying a Central Connecticut State University’s term paper on the Holocaust and is leaving it up to the state’s Appellate Court.
On Tuesday, Duquette’s lawyers argued before the Appellate Court on Tuesday and asked the judges to flip what they said was Waterbury Superior Court Judge Jane Scholl’s flawed ruling last year.
This case has gone through multiple layers of he judicial system and started in May 2006 when CCSU Western civilization Professor Ronald Moss did not receive Duquette or Matthew Coster’s term papers by the deadline.
The students both sent their papers in by e-mail and they were nearly identical, except for spelling and grammar errors in Coster's paper, according to news reports.
Moss and officials at CCSU said Coster had cheated and expelled him in 2006, but his family fought back and hired computer experts to determine when each paper was created.
Scholl determined that Duquette was the cheater and ordered her to pay Coster nearly $28,000 in punitive damages. Now, Duquette insists that Coster copied her paper. The Appellate Court did not immediately issue a ruling.
Coster was expelled from Central in 2006 after school officials accused him of copying Duquette's paper. He has been readmitted.
Copyright Associated Press / NBC Connecticut
Posted Wednesday, Oct 28, 2009 - 8:13 AM EST
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