A Northern Virginia judge pulled a local prosecutor off the case against a father whose daughter was raped in a public school restroom in an incident that drew national attention.
The Loudoun County father, Scott Smith, is being prosecuted for disorderly conduct stemming from an angry outburst at a 2021 school board meeting. But Smith, as well as the public, has good reason not to trust Loudoun County Commonwealth’s Attorney Buta Biberaj, a liberal prosecutor whose election was backed by George Soros, the judge said.
“The concerns about the public confidence in the integrity of the prosecution as well as the Defendant’s concerns regarding the impartiality of the Commonwealth’s Attorney are sufficiently grounded,” wrote Circuit Judge James Plowman. “As a result, the integrity of the Defendant’s due process rights is in jeopardy and… the Loudoun County Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office is hereby disqualified from serving as counsel in this matter.”
Smith became angry at the meeting after the superintendent provided false information about sexual assault in local schools. The school board was attempting to pass a policy that would allow transgender students to use the bathroom of their choice, and the superintendent dismissed parents’ concerns as unfounded because there had never been a sexual assault in the school bathroom.
Smith’s ninth-grade daughter had been raped in a school bathroom by a boy wearing a skirt just weeks prior, and school officials knew it.
The rapist went on to sexually assault a second girl because he was not held in jail or removed from school after his arrest. Biberaj sought to personally try the misdemeanor case against Smith, even though assistant commonwealth attorneys generally try such cases. She also sought jail time, a rarity for the charge, as well as for a prosecutor committed to finding alternatives to incarceration.
Biberaj won election in 2019 by about one percent after Soros, who has backed progressive prosecutors around the nation, spent more than $800,000 on her behalf. Her opponent spent about $150,000.
Eric Olsen, a prosecutor from nearby Stafford County, will oversee the charge.
Smith’s attorney, Bill Stanley, said Biberaj has proven she cannot be impartial toward his client. Smith said in a statement that Biberaj was out to “make an example” out of him.
“A fair system of criminal justice that is void of both bias and political agendas is the cornerstone of a free society,” Smith said. “From the beginning, Ms. Biberaj has sought to make an example of me for simply standing up to defend my daughter at the now infamous Loudoun County School Board meeting.”
Sean Kennedy, president of Virginians for Safe Communities, a group that has called attention to unusual behavior by far-left prosecutors, said Plowman’s ruling was a victory for justice.
“Biberaj – a supposed prosecutor – sides with criminals and her sympathies lie with defendants – unless they stand-up to her political allies,” Kennedy said. “Judge Plowman’s order is a victory for both the Smith family and every citizen of Loudoun County who seeks equal justice before the law.”
Biberaj did not return a request for comment.
The Loudoun County school board has unsuccessfully fought to shut down a grand jury investigation into its handling of the rape.