School administrator targeted in Virginia’s probe acquitted of perjury charge

LEESBURG, Va. — A jury Thursday acquitted Wayde Byard, the Northern Virginia school administrator charged with perjury in connection with his testimony during a grand jury probe called for by the state's governor.

The case stemmed from an investigation into the Loudoun County School System's handling of two campus rapes involving the same assailant in 2021. News that the boy had been allowed to transfer schools infuriated parents and became a talking point for Glenn Youngkin's successful gubernatorial campaign.

Once Youngkin was elected, prosecutors from the office of Jason Miyares, the state's attorney general, shepherded a probe. They interviewed Byard and accused him of committing perjury when he testified that he did not know an alleged sexual assault had taken place at one of the schools until months later.

In closing arguments, Byard’s attorney, Jennifer Leffler, repeated the charge that her client had become a fall guy in the controversy. She characterized the case as politically motivated and said Byard, 65, was “low-hanging fruit” in the state's high-profile prosecution.

Leffler also asserted that prosecutors had provided inadequate corroboration of the state's key witness, a high school principal who testified that he had given Byard details of the first attack. The principal confused specifics about the timing of a meeting on the incident, she charged. Beyond that, no emails copied to Byard discussed the alleged sexual assault, and administrators thought the first attack could be a girlfriend-boyfriend situation gone awry.

The jury of four women and eight men deliberated 90 minutes before announcing a verdict: not guilty. After the verdict was read, Byard and Leffler walked out of the Leesburg courthouse. During impromptu remarks, he said he doesn't hold any grudges.

"I'm not going to put any more quarters in the outrage machine," he said. "I'm not going to make incendiary statements. I'm not going to give counterpoints to political views."

While relieved, the acquittal was expected, he said. When he met Leffler, the attorney told him, "You're innocent, and I'm going to prove it."

Byard’s trouble, Leffler said, was that he was cooperative. When seated before a grand jury, “nothing gets you off the stand quicker than saying ‘I don’t remember,’” she explained.

Byard didn’t do that. “Instead, he gave it his best shot to answer,” she added. “If anything, he didn’t get everything right. He did nothing wrong.”

But Byard did offer the I-don’t-know answer at times, recalled Theo Stamos, special counsel with the Virginia Attorney General’s office.

“We’ve proven every which way from Sunday that he [Byard] definitely knew about the assault,” Stamos said during closing arguments. She likened the courtroom to a secular church. “It matters when people walk in and the clerk reads the oath.”

Stamos had no comment immediately after the trial. But in an email exchange, Victoria LaCivita, spokesman for Miyares, wrote: "The special grand jury indicted Mr. Byard after hearing all of the evidence, and we are proud that the judge agreed with us time and time again that this case needed to be heard in front of a jury. Lying under oath undermines our justice system and must be taken seriously."

She added, "While we are disappointed with the jury’s decision, we’re proud of our team for uncovering the truth and providing answers to concerned Virginia parents."

The parents of the victim in the first rape attended the trial, along with other parents. Circuit Court Douglas L. Fleming Jr. warned spectators not to react when the verdict was read.

The trial was scheduled for two days, but the prosecution’s case lingered throughout Tuesday and Wednesday. The defense case, on the other hand, wrapped in under four hours. Byard never took the stand.

Witnesses were called to confirm that during the summer of 2021, protests surrounding the school administration building focused on transgender policy proposals and critical race theory. In October, after the second attack, public focus turned to questions about the school system’s handling of the rapes.

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