A US Governor has granted an absolute pardon to a father who was convicted of disorderly conduct charges, following an assault on his daughter by a boy wearing a skirt in a girls’ bathroom at her school more than two years ago.
Virginia’s Republican Governor Glenn Youngkin called Scott Smith’s treatment a “gross miscarriage of justice. We righted a wrong, He should have never been prosecuted. This was a dad standing up for his daughter. And just to remind everyone, his daughter had been assaulted in the bathroom of a school and no one was doing anything about it.”
“It took the election of a new governor, me, and my directive to our Attorney General to investigate this to uncover the fact that the school superintendent had in fact covered it up. He was immediately terminated when the final report from the grand jury was issued,” the governor explained.
The Christian Post reports his pardon document noted that Scott Smith attended a school board meeting in June 2021 when a community member threatened to spread false and malicious information about Mr. Smith’s business with the intent to damage his reputation. Following a verbal confrontation, Mr. Smith was charged with obstruction of justice and disorderly conduct. He was later convicted in August 2021. An appeals court disqualified the prosecutor in the original case due to various concerns, including the “integrity of the prosecutions.”
The June 2021 school board meeting was about a proposal that was later enacted which allowed transgender students to use bathrooms that corresponded with their preferred gender identity. The superintendent lied to parents when he said: “We don’t have any records of assaults occurring in our restrooms.” Evidence later emerged that he had confirmed the assault in an email to the school board in May 2021.
The document also noted that although the father advocated for his daughter, a victim of assault, he was accused of “domestic terrorism” and “hate crimes.” After reviewing the circumstances, Governor Youngkin deemed it “appropriate” to grant an absolute pardon to Mr. Smith, stating that it reflects the father’s “factual innocence” of disorderly conduct.
“Mr. Smith did what any father would do. What any parent would do was stand up for their child. And even worse, what then happened, the perpetrator was moved to another school and assaulted another young woman. This was a gross miscarriage of justice, and I was so pleased to speak with him and be able to issue a full pardon for him,” the governor stated..
“Scott Smith is a dedicated parent who’s faced unwarranted charges in his pursuit to protect his daughter, Scott’s commitment to his child despite the immense obstacles is emblematic of the parental empowerment movement that started in Virginia.”
“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,” the governor declared.
Scott Smith said: “I think it’s pretty clear and convincing to the public that what happened to me that day should have never happened,” He vowed to pursue legal action against Loudoun County Public Schools and continue fighting “for parents and their children.”
