Virginia judge sets aside guilty verdict against former school superintendent

BY MATTHEW BARAKAT
Associated Press

LEESBURG, Va. (AP) — A judge has set aside a guilty verdict against a former Virginia school system superintendent convicted of a retaliatory firing of a teacher. The judge issued a written ruling Wednesday ordering a new trial for ex-Loudoun County Superintendent Scott Ziegler. He was convicted last year on a misdemeanor count of violating the state’s conflict of interest laws for allegedly firing a teacher in retaliation for her testimony to a special grand jury that was investigating him. The judge’s ruling eliminates the only conviction obtained by Republican Attorney General Jason Miyares in his high-profile investigation of the Loudoun County school system. The judge said the guilty verdict must be set aside because the jury was given faulty instructions.