Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin pardoned Scott T. Smith, the Loudoun County father convicted of disorderly conduct and obstruction of justice in connection with a 2021 school board meeting where he was removed after trying to get answers on how the school system handled his daughter’s sexual assault at school.
The governor signed the absolute pardon on September 8 and issued a news release on it Sunday.
“In Virginia, parents matter and my resolve to empower parents is unwavering. A parent’s fundamental right to be involved in their child’s education, upbringing, and care should never be undermined by bureaucracy, school divisions or the state. I am pleased to grant Scott Smith this pardon and help him and his family put this injustice behind them once and for all,” Youngkin said in a news release.
Buta Biberaj, the commonwealth’s attorney recused from Smith’s case, called the governor’s pardon a political stunt and an “intentional attempt to influence” the upcoming elections.
Gov. Youngkin is once again using Loudoun County for his political gain. My full statement below. pic.twitter.com/fPYEksC93T
— Buta Biberaj (@ButaBiberaj) September 10, 2023
Video of the school board incident showed an officer intervening when he saw Smith threatening a woman, Biberaj said.
Smith’s arrest came during a school board meeting where the issue of gender and restrooms was being discussed.
The teen responsible for the May 2021 assault on Smith’s daughter in restroom at Stone Bridge High School and another at Broad Run High School in October 2021, remains on supervised probation in a locked juvenile treatment facility until his 18th birthday. The judge who issued that ruling in the then-15-year-old’s case in 2022 reversed her decision to register him as a sex offender.
The sexual assaults raised issues not only of parental rights, but of transparency in the school system. A grand jury report in December 2022 faulted the school system for “a stunning lack of openness.” While the report indicated no evidence of a coverup, it said that administrators missed multiple chances to prevent the second assault. A special grand jury indicted the school system’s former superintendent, Scott Ziegler, who was fired by the school board. And the school board did not release an internal report on how the matters were handled.
While Smith thanked the governor for the pardon, he still plans to sue, he said in a news release issued by his lawyers.
“My family intends to pursue legal action in the federal courts to hold the Loudoun County public school system accountable for putting its own interests above the safety of both my daughter the families and communities that it was supposed to serve, and I also intend to pursue other legal remedies in order to hold those elected county officials who pursued this malicious prosecution of me accountable for their malfeasance. And, let me be clear. I am not a ‘domestic terrorist,’ I am just a father who will go to the ends of the earth to protect his daughter,” Smith said.
Feature image, stock.adobe.com
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