Virginia judge considers setting aside verdict against former superintendent, postpones sentencing

By MATTHEW BARAKAT
Associated Press

LEESBURG, Va. (AP) — A judge has postponed the sentencing of a former Virginia school system superintendent, saying he needed more time to consider setting aside the guilty verdict altogether. Former Loudoun County Superintendent Scott Ziegler was convicted in September 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 and the school system he oversaw. Ziegler had been scheduled for sentencing Thursday, but Judge Douglas Fleming postponed the sentencing after his lawyer argued that the jury’s guilty verdict was incorrect. Fleming said he’ll rule at a later date whether to set aside to verdict.