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A dad who faced jail for protesting about his daughter’s rape by a transgender student at a Virginia high school has been pardoned by Governor Glenn Youngkin.
Scott Smith was given a 10-day suspended sentence for disorderly conduct after he was dragged out of a school board meeting for protesting about the Stone Bright High School student, who went on to attack another girl.
‘We righted a wrong,’ Youngkin said on Sunday. ‘He should’ve never been prosecuted here. This was a dad standing up for his daughter.’
‘His daughter had been sexually assaulted in the bathroom of a school, and no one was doing anything about it.
‘This was a gross miscarriage of justice.’
Youngkin’s decision comes after strong backlash on the case that included the Loudoun County Superintendent losing his job and the George Soros-backed District Attorney being yanked from the case.
Scott Smith, pictured with wife Jessica faced a possible jail term over his protest at his daughter’s rape at Stone Bright High School in Pennsylvania
The father was left beaten and bloodied after he was ejected from the Loudoun County School Board meeting in June 2021
Virginia governor Glenn Youngkin said ‘Mr Smith did what any father would do’ as he issued a formal pardon
Youngkin said school had ‘covered it up’ and told Fox that parents must have the final say over their children’s education.
‘Mr Smith did what any father would do, what any parent would do, which is stand up for their child,’ Youngkin told Fox News Sunday.
‘I spoke with Mr Smith on Friday, and I had the privilege of telling Mr. Smith that I will pardon him, and we did that on Friday.’
In the May 2021 attack, Smith’s daughter was pinned down to the floor and assaulted by the boy inside a restroom stall, with a teacher later testifying that she saw two pairs of feet but did not interfere.
The boy was still at large three hours after the assault, during which time Principal Tim Flynn tried to get a no-trespass letter against Scott, who had arrived at the school.
The male student, who was wearing a skirt on the day of the attack, was allowed into the bathroom because he told staff he identified as female. The school’s lax policy allowed him to use the girls’ bathroom.
Smith was arrested and charged with disorderly conduct. He said he tried to contain himself after teachers falsely asserted they had not received reports of sex assaults in the girls’ toilets
The suspect was only arrested two months later, but still went on to sexually assault another girl at a different school, Broad Run High School, on October 6.
A month later, Smith attended a Loudoun County schools meeting. There, officials reiterated that the school’s gender-fluid bathrooms – where the rape took place – were not problematic.
Smith reacted with fury and his response was recorded and shared across social media. He was dragged out of a school board meeting by police, bloodied, after teachers falsely asserted they had not received reports of sex assaults in the girls’ toilets.
The distraught father was charged with two misdemeanors following the outburst – disorderly conduct and an obstruction charge that was later dismissed. Smith then fought to appeal the one charge.
Part of that effort included a judge removing DA Buta Biberaj from the case.
Smith accused Biberaj, one of several ‘woke’ DAs bankrolled by billionaire Democrat donor George Soros, of having a ‘clear bias’, saying she sought to make ‘an example’ of the Virginia father.
In a court order, Loudoun County Circuit Court Judge James Plowman said while he did not find ‘sufficient grounds’ to determine a ‘direct conflict’ that would grant the dismissal, he found Smith’s argument ‘persuasive’ and ‘sufficiently grounded,’ and that the father’s ‘due process rights’ were subsequently in jeopardy.
The judge then ordered the prosecutor’s removal, the second time he made that decision in months.
The 15-year-old was formerly a student Stone Bridge High School where he was accused of raping a female classmate in the girl’s bathroom
Liberal Loudoun County prosecutor Buta Biberaj has been pulled from Smith’s case after a judge found she sought to make ‘an example’ of the Virginia father
Loudoun County Superintendent Scott Ziegler was later sacked after a damning grand jury investigation found he ignored complaints and covered up what the school knew about the May 2021 attack.
The girl’s mother, Jessica, said the family was pressured to remain silent about the incident, and had no idea their daughter’s attacker had been allowed back in school.
‘We were silenced for many months,’ Jessica Smith told DailyMail.com, ‘We were told not to say a word that could jeopardize our daughter’s case.’
She only learned of his troubled past when DailyMail.com revealed that in fifth grade the boy had sent nude photos of himself to a female classmate, prompting an investigation but no arrest.
The boy had also been repeatedly suspended for fist fights and other misbehavior.
‘There should have been more done to help, not a coverup,’ Jessica said.
A special report found that the second assault could have been prevented, and that school district administrators lied to parents in an attempt to cover up the controversy over the transgender bathroom policy.
‘This invariably led to a stunning lack of openness, transparency, and accountability both to the public and the special grand jury,’ it concluded.
‘There were several decision points for senior LCPS administrators, up to and including the superintendent, to be transparent and step in and alter the sequence of events leading up to the October 6 BRHS sexual assault.
‘They failed at every juncture. We also believe the October 6 abduction and sexual assault of a female student at Broad Run High School could have, and should have, been prevented.’
The case became the searing tip of a raging debate in Loudoun County over transgender students’ rights and parents’ freedom of speech, with further angry disruption of school board meetings.
Last year the teen was found guilty for both assaults and was remanded in custody at a juvenile rehabilitation center.
But the 15-year-old was not required to register as a sex offender leaving Smith and his wife Jessica furious at the ruling.
‘My wife and I are not just heartbroken about today’s ruling, we are quite frankly mad at how the justice system and the Loudoun Commonwealth’s attorney have let down both our daughter, as well as the other victims of his predatory actions,’ Smith said in a statement.
‘The person who committed these horrible crimes against these young women will now, due to the errors of the county prosecutor, not have to bear the permanent shame at being known as a lifetime registered sex offender, as he had been originally sentenced.
‘We are now concerned, more than ever, that this change in his legal status may put other parents’ daughters at risk of physical harm in the future.’
