Most people dread going to jury duty, and try to find a way to make it more tolerable. Schoolteacher Damien Esteban took it a little too far in his attempt to take the edge off, as he was found trying to bring 18 baggies of heroin into the courthouse.
Esteban, a 33-year-old teacher at the prestigious Williamsburg School of Architecture and Design in Brooklyn, was taken into custody Wednesday as he returned from a break in a murder trial in State Supreme Court in Manhattan, according to David Bookstaver, a spokesman for the state Office of Court Administration.
When the teacher attempted to go through security in the courthouse lobby, he set off an alarm, causing security to check his person.
When a security guard determined a pack of Parliament cigarettes as what set off the alarm, she opened it to find 18 single-use bags of heroin inside.
Esteban, who has a master’s degree from McGill University, has been a teacher at the Brooklyn school since August 2007, a spokeswoman for the Education Department told the New York Times.
Williamsburg School of Architecture and Design was named the top fifth ranked school out of all 422 New York City public high schools, based on the 2010 High School Progress Reports, placing it in the top 99 percent of all high schools citywide with a score of 100.2 and a grade of A.
The 33-year-old educator had been serving as a juror since October 9 in the murder trial of Jamal Armstead, 22, who allegedly killed a teenager on the Upper West Side back in 2008.
Esteban was arrested and charged with a single misdemeanor count of criminal possession of a controlled substance.
He has since been replaced as a juror.
Manhattan Criminal Court Judge Michelle Armstrong agreed to dismiss the charge and has his case sealed providing he attend a day of counseling at the Treatment Readiness Program and not get rearrested in the next six months.
“It’s for anyone with substance abuse issues. It introduces you to the idea of treatment, if you are interested in pursuing it further,” explained Esteban’s court-appointed lawyer, Joe Conza.
This doesn’t spell the end of the debacle for Esteban, however, as a city Department of Education spokeswoman told the New York Daily News the 33-year-old teacher has been suspended from teaching and assigned to the “rubber room,” where teachers are sent as they wait to see if they will be terminated.
James Gilbert | Elite.
