Sexual abuse civil trial against Camden school board president is postponed; public to be barred from proceedings

A judge on Monday delayed the civil trial of Camden Advisory School Board President Wasim Muhammad, accused of sexually abusing a former student when he was her middle school teacher starting in 1994.

Superior Court Judge John Kennedy postponed the trial until April 29. Jury selection had been scheduled to begin Monday in his courtroom in Camden.

Kennedy delayed the trial to allow the defense additional time to respond to newly raised legal arguments about the defense strategy.

Meanwhile, in another development, the lawyers learned Monday that Assignment Judge Deborah Silverman Katz, the top judge for Camden County, said the courtroom will be closed and the record sealed, barring the media and the public from attending the trial when the proceedings resume. A reason was not given.

Silverman Katz denied a request late last week from The Inquirer seeking to send a photographer to the courtroom. The request was denied without explanation.

In response to a query from The Inquirer on Monday, a court administrator said in an email: “I reviewed this with the Assignment Judge. This court record will be sealed under applicable court rules.”

Lawyer Jeffrey Fritz, who brought the case on behalf of the plaintiff, identified in court filings as “Jane Doe,” said the order was “overly broad.” There is also a compelling public interest in the trial and the proceeding should be open, he said.

“Don’t bar the public from hearing this,” Fritz said. “That’s what allows this type of behavior to fester.”

Muhammad and his lawyer, Troy Archie, didn’t immediately respond to messages. Lawyers for the Camden City School District also didn’t respond.

Bruce S. Rosen, a lawyer with Pashman Stein Walder Hayden in Hackensack, said N.J. case law requires that trials be open unless there is a compelling state interest “after all reasonable alternatives … have been explored.” In that case, the court must provide detailed findings for their reasoning. Silverman Katz, he said, has not.

“The presumption of openness to court proceedings requires more than a passing nod,” Rosen said. “It is essential to foster public confidence in the judiciary.”

The plaintiff, now 45, traveled from the South during the weekend and was in court Monday. She will return home and come back next week, Fritz said.

Muhammad was also in the courtroom with a number of his wives and adult children.

An 18-page lawsuit filed in 2021 accuses Muhammad, now a minister and prominent community activist in Camden, of sexually abusing the victim for years, beginning when she was an eighth grader at Cooper B. Hatch Middle School. She alleges he groomed her for the abuse by singling her out for special attention.

The lawsuit alleges that the sexual abuse continued even after she moved out of state. District employees who knew about it failed to stop it, according to the lawsuit.

Now 45, the woman filed the lawsuit under a state law passed in 2019 that allows victims of child sexual abuse to sue their abusers up until they turn 55. She tried to lodge criminal charges in 2020, but the statute of limitations had expired.

Muhammad has denied the allegations in court filings.