Father Arrested for Protesting Daughter’s Rape in Loudoun School ‘Relieved’ after Democratic Prosecutor Dismissed

Scott Smith was arrested in Loudoun County last year after confronting members of the local school board about his daughter’s assault in a school bathroom by a male student who was wearing a skirt at the time. Smith was charged with disorderly conduct after resisting arrest, and has been appealing for months to have Democratic prosecutor Buta Biberaj removed from his case on the grounds that the prosecutor can’t be impartial, since she initially let his daughter’s rapist go free, allowing him to assault another girl at the school he was transferred to.

Smith was “relieved” to hear that Biberaj, who “seemed to want to make his case into a political prosecution,” was replaced by a special prosecutor last week, his lawyer, Bill Stanley, told National Review.

Biberaj had pushed for Smith to serve a longer jail sentence, and asked that he receive mandatory anger management training and pay a fine. Biberaj had previously campaigned against mass incarcerations, but wanted Smith to have an “active jail sentence . . . as part of his punishment,” according to Stanley. 

Biberaj also participated in a Facebook doxxing group that exposed parents “who stood up to the school board against the dangerous policies that they were trying to pass,” Stanley added, saying those policies “resulted in the harm that happened to Mr. Smith’s daughter.”

After Biberaj’s dismissal, Smith’s “faith in the judicial system and his belief that he can get a fair trial has been restored,” Stanley added, noting that Smith “is confident” that he will be found not guilty, and that “this has been a political prosecution from the very beginning.”

Biberaj did not respond to National Review when asked if she believed her actions were indicative of a conflict of interest that would prevent her from handling Smith’s case in an impartial manner.

Smith’s case became a national sensation after videos of his arrest circulated online, showing him on the ground with a bloodied lip after the altercation with law enforcement.

The National School Boards Association (NSBA) deemed Smith’s verbal confrontation akin to “domestic terrorism” in a letter they sent last year to the White House requesting federal assistance. 

“Mr. Smith never wanted the spotlight. Mr. Smith didn’t want to be a symbol of parents standing up against school boards that were putting political policies ahead of the safety of their children at school. However, when the Loudoun County School Board lied in denying that his daughter was ever assaulted at the school by a [biologically male] student wearing a skirt . . . that changed everything,” Stanley said.

Being labeled a “domestic terrorist” for standing up for his daughter has affected Smith “greatly,” as he has had to “fight for his reputation to be restored,” Stanley said, “but it also has encouraged him to continue to stand up for his daughter and for other children in the Loudoun County school system.”

“Nothing can be further from the truth than” the NSBA deeming Smith a “domestic terrorist,” Stanley added. Smith “loves his country, loves the place that he lives, loves his neighbors, and for him, to be branded a ‘domestic terrorist’ was completely and is completely unacceptable.”

“The NSBA owes him an apology, and for that matter so does the Biden administration’s attorney general’s office,” Stanley said.

Smith’s trial is expected to end in the next few months, Stanley said, but “nothing will restore his life and his family’s life back to normalcy . . . that they had enjoyed prior to the vicious attack” on their daughter by the male student who was allowed to use the girls bathroom.

The school district formally implemented a policy allowing male students to use the girls bathrooms after the assault took place, and school-board members insisted during meetings that there hadn’t been any incidents since the district began allowing the practice.

After his trial, Smith plans to file a Title IX lawsuit against the “Loudoun County school board and the school system violating his daughter’s rights.”

Smith’s second challenge has been “putting his life back together and his family’s life back together, and making sure that his daughter is given the best chance to succeed as she grows into a young woman,” Stanley concluded.