LEESBURG, Va. — A longtime Loudoun County Public Schools employee charged with perjury was found not guilty on Thursday, just a couple hours after the case went to the jury.
Wayde Byard, dubbed “the face of LCPS” by his attorney, was indicted after he testified last year that he was unaware of a sexual assault allegation at Stone Bridge High School in May 2021 until months after the second incident at a different school by the same perpetrator.
The teen suspect, who was later convicted, sexually assaulted another female student at Broad Run High School in October after he was transferred.
Byard, who was placed on administrative leave without pay, is the public information officer for LCPS. He chose not to testify on the stand.
Jurors were able to hear from close to 20 witnesses throughout three days. They had to consider if Byard made false statements under oath, did so knowingly and willfully, and if such statement was material to the issue being heard.
Prosecutors zeroed in on a specific statement to the special grand jury, empaneled by Attorney General Jason Miyares (R-Virginia) to investigate how the school district handled both sexual assault cases.
Byard was asked, “On the afternoon of May 28, 2021, you were unaware of an allegation of a sexual assault of one male student against a female student until months later?”
Byard answered, "I'd say that's correct."
The commonwealth argued Byard knew about the first sexual assault because Principal Tim Flynn called to tell him. The victim’s father, Scott Smith, had just caused a big disruption at the school.
Byard always claimed he didn't ask the principal what the disruption was about and thought it was a boyfriend-girlfriend situation gone wrong.
Prosecutors questioned how it was possible for a public information officer trusted to gather details before drafting a message to the school community to not know of the allegation, even after his boss was a part of a Teams call with administrators to discuss the incident that afternoon.
“Isn’t it reasonable to ask why the dad is so mad?” stated the prosecution during closing arguments. “He didn’t have to ask that because he was told that.”
He also stressed how Byard initially testified that he became aware of Smith after he was arrested during a June 2021 board meeting, months before the second assault.
Defense attorney Jennifer Leffler argued the commonwealth did not meet the requirements of a perjury charge.
Leffler said there was not enough witnesses or strong testimony with corroboration to prove Byard lied. She added there was no evidence presented to corroborate the phone conversation between Byard and Flynn.
Flynn said on the day the female student alleged she was raped, he called Byard to tell him “everything” and that “this was bad.” Aside from Flynn, Leffler argued no other witnesses claimed Byard was aware of a sexual assault allegation.
Leffler also questioned the credibility of the principal.
On the stand, Principal Flynn was adamant that Teams call with the higher-ups happened in evening when he was at home. However, it happened at 3:30 p.m. on the same day.
“He's [Byard] the fall guy...low hanging fruit is what this is,” said Leffler. “He [Byard] made a mistake. He should've said he couldn't remember. He made a stab at what happened...he did the best he could with his recollection.”
One of the was Joan Sahlgren, the LCPS director of communications.
She, Byard and other school officials were involved in crafting a message to the school community the day of the first sexual assault. The message never mentioned a sexual assault but instead, it talked about a big disruption by the victim’s father who showed up at school.
“It wasn’t conveyed that there was a sexual assault,” said Sahlgren.
Sahlgren said she does not remember exactly at what point she found out about the sexual assault allegation, but it was before she left work.
During the trial, the commonwealth tried to nail down when she first learned of the sexual assault and questioned if Byard would’ve known because of how closely they work together and since he is the public information officer.
Sahlgren claims Byard knew some info since he spoke to the principal over the phone but says all of the details including the sexual assault allegations could’ve come from different sources.