LOUDOUN COUNTY, Va. — A circuit court judge in Loudoun County denied the request to dismiss a case against a Loudoun County father seen on camera being dragged out of a school board meeting and arrested.
In June 2021, Scott Smith was charged with obstruction of justice and disorderly conduct during an explosive Loudoun County school board meeting addressing the school district's transgender rights policy. Smith was in the meeting weeks after his daughter was sexually assaulted by a student who later sexually assaulted another teenager at a different school.
Both cases and the school board meeting galvanized the parent rights movement that swept Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin into office. The controversy catapulted the county into the national spotlight, sparked an investigation by the Office of Attorney General, and prompted the termination of superintendent Dr. Scott Ziegler.
Defense attorney William Stanley, a Republican Virginia senator, argued there is not enough evidence to indicate his client riled up the crowds, which intensified as soon as the school board ended the meeting. Stanley argued Smith reacted to a woman who aggressively approached him and threatened to ruin his business. Court transcripts from a previous hearing said Scott Smith had his fist clenched by his leg, leaned forward and called her an expletive.
“A threat of a potential battery is not a crime,” Stanley said during the court hearing Thursday.
Judge James Brown agreed with Commonwealth’s Attorney Eric Olsen who argued the case should go to a jury trial. Brown said he believes the facts are “sufficient enough to let it go to the finder of the fact.”
The judge also believed Smith’s behaviors that night could incite violence.
“I’ll keep fighting this and I will win but, in the meantime, it’s more pain on me and my family,” Smith told WUSA9. “If we can’t stand up and defend our families with our hands at our side and use our loud voice to call someone a name, what has this country come to?”
In May 2022, a judge threw out his obstruction of justice charge, with prejudice, citing an apparent clerical error by the General District Court judge.
A trial date has been set for September 25.
“We’ve been going through this for two years,” said Jess Smith, Scott Smith’s wife. “We did nothing wrong. All we did was speak out.”
Scott Smith is also blasting Youngkin, saying he has never heard from the governor since the case reached national attention.
Loudoun County Commonwealth’s Attorney Buta Biberaj previously said she has no bias against Scott Smith and said the case could have been resolved a long time ago if he had accepted responsibility.
Earlier this week, the Commonwealth ruled Loudoun County Public Schools must hand over its independent investigation into how the sexual assaults on campus were handled. Attorneys for LCPS argued it met attorney-client privilege.
The Office of Attorney General, which was instructed by Youngkin to investigate LCPS, is supposed to receive the report no later than next week.
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