LEESBURG, Va. (CN) — A judge in Northern Virginia tossed out a guilty verdict in the case against Scott Ziegler, a former superintendent charged with retaliating against a teacher who complained that a student sexually assaulted her.
Judge Douglas Fleming wrote in an opinion handed down Wednesday that a legal error during Ziegler’s trial in September led him to set aside the guilty verdict. Specifically, the jury was not instructed that in order to be guilty of retaliating against the teacher, Ziegler had to know his actions violated law.
"Knowledge necessarily becomes an element of the crime," Fleming wrote.
The legal instructions given to jurors toward the end of the trial missed that point. Attorneys for the prosecution and defense agreed to instructions that "permitted the jury to find the defendant guilty without a finding that the defendant acted knowingly."
Fleming’s ruling hands a victory to Ziegler, represented by Erin Harrigan, of Gentry Locke’s criminal and government investigations practice. But Harrigan had also sought to have the case dismissed. Instead, the judge ordered a new trial.
"Was there sufficient factual evidence, either directly, circumstantially or in combination to sustain the defendant's conviction?" Fleming wrote. "In a word, yes."
Victoria LaCivita, spokeswoman for Attorney General Jason Miyares, whose office prosecuted the case, said in a statement: “The dismissal is based on a technicality relating to a jury instruction agreed to by the defense. We look forward to once again presenting our case in court.”
The charge against Ziegler involves Erin Brooks, a teacher who said her problems began with an autistic, nonverbal 10-year-old student who acted out to get attention — first by pulling hair or grabbing a shirt — but later, by attempting to touch the private areas of his teachers.
Ziegler also faced fire in another case involving a student who was accused of rape at one high school, then transferred to another school, where he assaulted a different student.
The controversy was a key issue in Glenn Youngkin’s successful 2021 gubernatorial campaign. The school board at the booming Washington-area suburb fired Ziegler. When Youngkin took office, he issued an executive order calling for an investigation of the school system, and Miyares led the proceedings.
This ruling sets aside the only victory so far in the high-profile probe. During the September trial, the jury acquitted Ziegler on a second count related to the incident — penalizing an employee for a court appearance. Miyares moved to dismiss a third misdemeanor charge against Ziegler prompted by accusations that he lied at a school board meeting.
In another case, a jury acquitted Wayde Byard, a Loudoun schools communications officer charged with perjury in connection with his testimony during the grand jury probe.
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