Virginia Governor Grants Pardon to Father After Emotional Outburst Triggered by Daughter’s Sexual Assault

Scott Smith, a father who was convicted of disorderly conduct after angrily protesting a Loudoun Country school’s handling of his daughter’s sexual assault in a case that sparked national outrage, has been pardoned by Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin, the New York Post reported on 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,” Youngkin told “Fox News Sunday.” “We righted a wrong. He should’ve never been prosecuted here. This was a dad standing up for his daughter.”

Smith, who alleged that his then-ninth grade daughter was sexually assaulted by a biological boy wearing a skirt in a high school bathroom, erupted at a school board meeting in June 2021 after Loudoun County Public Schools Superintendent Scott Ziegler insisted that “we don’t have any record of assaults occurring in our restrooms” and contended “the predator transgender student or person simply does not exist,” according to the Daily Wire.

However, the teenage suspect was later found guilty after being charged with two counts of forcible sodomy.

Youngkin said, “Mr. Smith did what any father would do, what any parent would do, which is stand up for their child. This was gross miscarriage of justice.”

The governor argued that Smith’s “daughter had been sexually assaulted in the bathroom of a school, and no one was doing anything about it,” adding that the school superintendent even “covered it up.”

Youngkin, who has cast himself a champion of parental rights in education, is gearing up for a competitive off-year state legislative election.