​Virginia acquits school spokesman who was targeted by Glen Youngkin in campaign for governor

A longtime spokesperson for a school district that had been attacked by Gov. Glenn Youngkin in the 2021 gubernatorial campaign was acquitted today of a perjury charge brought by Virginia’s Republican attorney general at Youngkin’s request.

“The jury took only about two hours to deliberate before acquitting Loudoun County Public Schools Public Information Officer Wayde Byard on the sole perjury count lodged against him by a special grand jury,” the Associated Press reported.

“The perjury case was the first prosecution to go to trial from the special grand jury's probe, commissioned by Republican Attorney General Jason Miyares at the request of Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin.”

Both Youngkin and Miyares “had blasted Loudoun County schools during their runs for office in 2021 that featured calls for more parental control over education,” the Washington Post reported.

“Youngkin authorized a probe of Loudoun schools as one of his first acts in office and Miyares empaneled the special grand jury, which indicted Byard in December.”

There had been two sexual assaults at two different high schools in the district in 2021, AP reported.

“The assaults garnered widespread attention not only because the boy who committed the assaults was allowed to transfer to another school after the first attack but also because he was wearing a skirt when he committed the first attack in a school bathroom,” AP reported.

“At the time the county was considering a policy change to allow transgender students to use the restroom of their choice.”

Byard declined to attack Youngkin and Miyares in his comments outside the courthouse after his acquittal, the Post reported.

“I’m not going to put any more quarters in the outrage machine,” Byard said. “I’m not going to make incendiary statements. I’m not going to give counterpoint to political views, because that’s what has got our community here and our nation here.”

As Raw Story reported last year, thousands of high school students walked out of classrooms across Virginia to protest a plan by Youngkin “that critics say aims to repress transgender youth amid growing nationwide GOP-led attacks on LGBTQ+ rights.”