{"id":1953754,"date":"2023-06-22T00:56:02","date_gmt":"2023-06-22T04:56:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/loudoun-honchos-in-perjury-trial-testify-they-cant-remember-almost-anything-about-rape-scandal\/"},"modified":"2023-06-22T00:57:59","modified_gmt":"2023-06-22T04:57:59","slug":"loudoun-honchos-in-perjury-trial-testify-they-cant-remember-almost-anything-about-rape-scandal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/loudoun-honchos-in-perjury-trial-testify-they-cant-remember-almost-anything-about-rape-scandal\/","title":{"rendered":"Loudoun leaders in perjury trial claim severe memory loss on rape scandal."},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">24<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Floudoun-honchos-in-perjury-trial-testify-they-cant-remember-almost-anything-about-rape-scandal%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1953754&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><h2>Scandal and Amnesia: Loudoun County School Officials Testify in Felony Perjury Trial<\/h2>\n<blockquote>\n<p>LOUDOUN COUNTY, VIRGINIA \u2014 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/topic\/loudoun-county\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Loudoun County<\/a> Public Schools\u2019 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/fed-found-economy-is-recovering-much-faster-than-officials-expected\/\" title=\"Fed Found Economy Is Recovering Much Faster Than Officials Expected\">top officials<\/a>, testifying Wednesday in the felony perjury trial of a colleague, made potentially hard-to-believe statements of their own as they said, over and over again, that they had little familiarity with, or couldn\u2019t remember details of, the scandal that captured the nation\u2019s attention and has defined local politics for two years.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>The attorney for now-suspended Public Information Officer Wayde Byard said while Principal Tim Flynn testified that he told Byard clearly in a phone call that a girl alleged she was raped in the bathroom \u2014 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/news\/felony-trial-for-loudoun-schools-spokesman-begins-over-rape-coverup\">contradicting<\/a> the sworn statement Byard made to a grand jury that he didn\u2019t know about it until months later \u2014 one witness wasn\u2019t enough for a conviction.<\/p>\n<p>Byard\u2019s boss, Communications Director Joan Salgren, and Deputy Superintendent Ashley Ellis might have been in a position to serve as corroborating witnesses; prosecutors said Salgren told a grand jury earlier this year that she believes Byard told her about the rape that day. But on Wednesday, she backtracked, saying she wasn\u2019t so sure. In all, both women claimed to have virtually no recollection of anything beyond what prosecutors already could prove from subpoenaed emails and other papers.<\/p>\n<p>An <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/news\/loudoun-county-schools-tried-to-conceal-sexual-assault-against-daughter-in-bathroom-father-says\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">October 2021 Daily Wire story<\/a> led to the indictment of both Salgren\u2019s boss (Superintendent Scott Ziegler) and subordinate and, lawyers from both sides said, \u201cpropelled your school system into the hot white light of public concern.\u201d Despite Salgren\u2019s job being managing news about the school system, on Wednesday she contended to the jury that she didn\u2019t remember receiving The Daily Wire\u2019s email explaining the story it was about to break and asking for information, and claimed she did not know or could not recall what the story, which captured the nation\u2019s attention for weeks, ultimately said. (Emails obtained through a subpoena show that the request for comment sent her into high alert, ordering Byard to \u201cTAKE NO ACTION.\u201d)<\/p>\n<p>Ellis, the school system\u2019s second<a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/trust-the-experts-economists-across-board-say-min-wage-hike-would-spike-inflation\/\" title=\"Trust The Experts: Economists Across Board Say Min Wage Hike Would Spike Inflation\">-highest ranking official<\/a>, told jurors she only \u201cvaguely\u201d recalled May 28, 2021 \u2014 the day of the rape \u2014 and some sort of \u201csituation,\u201d despite her own notes from the day showing she wrote down &#8220;anal penetration&#8221; and &#8220;police handling,&#8221; and acknowledging that those topics would stand out in her work.<\/p>\n<p>Byard, Salgren, and now-indicted Superintendent Scott Ziegler drafted a statement that went out to parents that day that explained police presence at the school by saying the situation was simply an \u201cangry parent\u201d \u2014 without mentioning that the parent was angry because his daughter had just been raped \u2014 and stating that there was \u201cno threat to the student body\u201d even as a rapist was at large.<\/p>\n<p>An email uncovered by prosecutors showed that on that day, Ellis wrote an email suggesting that they make the statement less misleading. \u201cCan we say [the incident causing police to respond] was confined to the main office? No sure that was true,\u201d she wrote, according to prosecutors.<\/p>\n<p>Jennifer Laffer, Byard\u2019s defense attorney, contended that Flynn didn\u2019t tell Byard about the rape, but merely about an angry parent. However, evidence at trial suggested that Flynn had openly told other top officials about it, and that all the executives knew, including Salgren, who generally got information from Byard. \u201cFlynn is telling everyone,\u201d prosecutor Jason Faw said. \u201cWhy would Wayde Byard be the only person he didn\u2019t tell?\u201d<\/p>\n<p><b data-stringify-type=\"bold\"><\/b><\/p>\n<p>Faw said that Chief of Staff Mark Smith had been fired over his handling of the rape, and that Byard had a motive to lie for fear of being next.<\/p>\n<p>Byard\u2019s defense attorney set out a theory in which she suggested that Byard might have said under oath that he didn\u2019t <i>know<\/i> about a rape because he didn\u2019t believe the victim and thought it was merely consensual anal sex that the school system had asked the police to investigate. She did not explain how this would square with the way that Flynn found out about the incident: by the girl coming to the office in tears and reporting that she had been raped. Prosecutors said the theory also didn\u2019t fly because Byard additionally responded in the negative to a question that called it a rape <i>allegation.<\/i><\/p>\n<p>Faw said that in grand jury testimony, Byard \u201cacknowledges being told something about a boyfriend\/girlfriend in a bathroom that \u2018went sideways,\u2019 which sounds a lot like a sexual assault to me, but then he goes into denial mode.\u201d Byard told the grand jury he was told \u201creally nothing\u201d about a sexual assault.<\/p>\n<p>Faw said Byard \u201cslipped up\u201d in his grand jury testimony by, despite claiming he didn\u2019t know about the May rape until around October, also saying that he learned that Scott Smith was \u201cthe father of the victim\u201d when Smith was arrested on June 22. That\u2019s the day of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/loudoun-honchos-in-perjury-trial-testify-they-cant-remember-almost-anything-about-rape-scandal\/\" title=\"Loudoun leaders in perjury trial claim severe memory loss on rape scandal.\">infamous school board meeting<\/a> where Ziegler lied that there had never been a bathroom rape, while pushing a transgender policy, and Smith again became enraged and was arrested.<\/p>\n<div class=\"c-scrollbar__hider\" role=\"presentation\" data-qa=\"slack_kit_scrollbar\">\n<div class=\"c-scrollbar__child\" role=\"presentation\">\n<div class=\"c-virtual_list__scroll_container\" role=\"list\" data-qa=\"slack_kit_list\" aria-label=\"Luke Rosiak (direct message, away)\">\n<div id=\"1687403889.086519\" class=\"c-virtual_list__item c-virtual_list__item--initial-activeitem\" role=\"listitem\" data-qa=\"virtual-list-item\" data-item-key=\"1687403889.086519\">\n<div class=\"c-message_kit__background c-message_kit__background--hovered p-message_pane_message__message c-message_kit__message p-message_pane_message__message--last p-message_pane_message__message--showing_context_bar\" role=\"presentation\" data-qa=\"message_container\" data-qa-unprocessed=\"false\" data-qa-placeholder=\"false\">\n<div class=\"c-message_kit__hover c-message_kit__hover--hovered\" role=\"document\" data-qa-hover=\"true\">\n<div class=\"c-message_kit__actions c-message_kit__actions--default\">\n<div class=\"c-message_kit__gutter\">\n<div class=\"c-message_kit__gutter__right\" role=\"presentation\" data-qa=\"message_content\">\n<div class=\"c-message_kit__blocks c-message_kit__blocks--rich_text\">\n<div class=\"c-message__message_blocks c-message__message_blocks--rich_text\" data-qa=\"message-text\">\n<div class=\"p-block_kit_renderer\" data-qa=\"block-kit-renderer\">\n<div class=\"p-block_kit_renderer__block_wrapper p-block_kit_renderer__block_wrapper--first\">\n<div class=\"p-rich_text_block\" dir=\"auto\">\n<div class=\"p-rich_text_section\">Prosecutors played video of the arrest in which Smith\u2019s wife can be heard screaming, \u201cmy daughter was raped at school and this is what happens!\u201d Byard did not testify at his trial on Wednesday, but prosecutors said he told the grand jury earlier this year that he was at the meeting and standing feet away from Smith\u2019s wife at the time.<\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Prosecutors also pointed to another email that they said shows that Byard was aware of the rape, which school official Kevin Lewis contemporaneously noted could affect the school\u2019s then-proposed transgender policy because the rapist was wearing a skirt. Byard sent Ziegler an email in August 2021 containing a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.loudounnow.com\/news\/public_safety\/smith-found-guilty-in-school-board-scuffle\/article_9ed6026d-1363-52d3-8c82-ef70594d2c22.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/aoc-rips-james-carville-for-blaming-wokeness-in-terry-mcauliffe-defeat\/\" title=\"AOC Rips James Carville for Blaming 'Wokeness' in Terry McAuliffe Defeat\">local news article<\/a><\/a> about Smith\u2019s sentencing for disorderly conduct, at which his attorney explained that he was angry because her daughter had been raped. Also, in an email shortly after the rape, he refers to \u201cthe same family\u201d from the earlier incident, indicating he knew why the father was at school and angry that day, prosecutors said.<\/p>\n<p>Judge Douglas Fleming said that on Thursday, the jury will decide the outcome after weighing the credibility of the witnesses. \u201cI don\u2019t think Mr. Flynn left any doubt, if you believe his testimony, about what he said\u201d to Byard, he said.<\/p>\n<p>He said that a false statement about a school official\u2019s knowledge of a rape, during a grand jury looking into a rape coverup, was far from incidental. \u201cWe\u2019re here because it was very material. \u2018It was bad.\u2019 \u2018It was unique.\u2019 \u2018Never dealt with it before,\u2019\u201d he said, quoting witnesses, some of whom simultaneously said they had little memory of the unusual and severe situation. \u201cThe jury can reach its own conclusion,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Loudoun County Public Schools&#8217; officials testified in a colleague&#8217;s perjury trial, repeatedly claiming little knowledge or recollection of the scandal that gained national attention and shaped their reputation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":128,"featured_media":1953755,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[541],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1953754","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-daily-wire"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1953754","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/128"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1953754"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1953754\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1953755"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1953754"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1953754"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1953754"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}