It has been an excruciating year and half for South Lakes High School physical education teacher Sean Lanigan.

Lanigan was acquitted in 2010 of molesting a sixth-grade student at Centreville's Centre Ridge Elementary School after it later was found out the girl fabricated the story. He has tried for more than a year to have his legal fees of more than $100,000 reimbursed. The Fairfax County School Board declined, offering only $60,000 with the condition that Lanigan not sue any school officials.

Lanigan rejected the partial offer and filed suit on Friday asking that the school board pay the enture $107,838, with no strings attached, writes Tom Jackman in The Washington Post's State of NoVa blog.

The school board reimbursed Lanigan for the salary he lost while he was suspended after his January 2010 arrest. He was reassigned to South Lakes at the start of the 2010-11 school year.

Lanigan told The Post earlier this year that his arrest, incarceration, removal from Centre Ridge and trial imposed needless suffering based on an incomplete investigation of the girls’ allegations. He has not filed any legal action based on that aspect of the case.

Lanigan coaches boys soccer at Herndon High School was The Post's 2011 Coach of the Year.

I cant imagine the grief he went through and also what appears to have been a poorly run investigation. It must send a cold chill through every teacher in the system as to how easily this can happen.

Not sure who but someone def owes this guy.

Can he file a civil suit against the then, 6th graders family?

i wonder how they found out she was lying? Did the police find out after more investigation, did the girl come forward or was she found out under oath?


Anyone?

From the Post - "A jury found him not guilty after just 47 minutes of deliberation — virtually unheard of in a child sex abuse case. Jurors were outraged by the lack of evidence, with one weeping in sympathy during closing arguments."

My Friend was on the jury. She said they had absolutely no proof. The girl made up the charges after her teacher banned her from a club. She was not coming to school on time or getting in trouble or something so he said she couldn't be in the club he ran until she improved. The room she said he abused her in was filled with gym mats almost floor to ceiling. There was no way he could have even thrown her on the floor. The cops and the DA involved should all be fired. Absolutely horrid. He should sue for millions!!!

You think so? Because the case had to go through a preliminary hearing first. That's a hearing where the cops and prosecutors have to show there was enough probable cause to send it to a grand jury for an indictment. Only then does it go to trial. So basically a Fairfax judge heard direct and cross examination and decided it should go forward, and then a grand jury of citizens decided it was an indictable offense based upon the evidence.

The fact that a jury found him innocent is fine. Happens all the time. I don't see why people are so pissed about it, other than the fact that it's a teacher who was accused of diddling kids. You can piss and moan about cops and DAs all you want, but plenty of people thought it was a legit case until the "victim" confessed she was a big fat liar.

The two "witnesses" told the police they lied for their friend after the indictment was handed out and they still proceeded with the trial. So yes if a cop goes to court tells a judge victim says teacher touched her this was witnessed by 2 other students I would definitely say yep he did it lets go to trial.

So this guy can't even get back the money he had to spend? If he had been a woman, he'd have been awarded millions of dollars by now.

He should sue her parents to get the money back. He's clearly got a good case there. And he could sue for damages.

FattyMcButterpants Wrote:
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> You think so? Because the case had to go through
> a preliminary hearing first. That's a hearing
> where the cops and prosecutors have to show there
> was enough probable cause to send it to a grand
> jury for an indictment. Only then does it go to
> trial. So basically a Fairfax judge heard direct
> and cross examination and decided it should go
> forward, and then a grand jury of citizens decided
> it was an indictable offense based upon the
> evidence.
>
> The fact that a jury found him innocent is fine.
> Happens all the time. I don't see why people are
> so pissed about it, other than the fact that it's
> a teacher who was accused of diddling kids. You
> can piss and moan about cops and DAs all you want,
> but plenty of people thought it was a legit case
> until the "victim" confessed she was a big fat
> liar.


How about the prosecution team vetting the "victim" at the outset to determine if the case should have even been brought to a preliminary hearing and then a grand ury???? Why is anybody pissed about that???? It happens all the time???

Sounds like someone got on the wrong side of this case...I hope he is able to find a way to recoup all of his out of pocket expenses, and somethng additional for "pain and suffering". It would be nice to see my tax dollars at work to right this wrong!!!

What kind of prosecutor would run this case all the way through with that weak of evidence? I thought they thrived on their success rate.

Was the prosecutor bullied into doing it?

Some vindictive little shithead can ruin an adult's life just because they didn't get what they want. That scares me. People lose their common sense once they hear that a helpless innocent child was harmed.

It is not like it is popular to ignore a girl's claim that she was harmed by someone trusted to care for her.

wnrsm Wrote:
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> What kind of prosecutor would run this case all
> the way through with that weak of evidence?

Mike Nifong?

Sorry he has been through this.

Just so we are all aware -- he is asking Fairfax County taxpayers to pick up his tab.

As it should be for cases like this. He should also be suing the family of the child that fabricated the story. Why is she not being charged? I am sure the County can sell some of those high end Section 8 properties to make Lanigan whole.

If I recall correctly, the girl was a 6th grader and a bully. Mr. Lanigan told her she would be removed from the safety patrol if she did not stop bullying the younger students. The girl became angry and said she was going to get back at Lanigan. Apparently, this horrible lie was her method.

Nothing can really undo the damage this disturbed girl caused to Mr. Lanigan and his family. But FCPS should at least pay for his legal fees, or FCPS should have that girl's parents help pay for them, since it's their fault they raised such a nasty kid.

Taxpayer Wrote:
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> Sorry he has been through this.
>
> Just so we are all aware -- he is asking Fairfax
> County taxpayers to pick up his tab.


Uh, it was Fairfax County that put him through it.

I hope the taxpayers (that's us) pay Lanigan every penny he's owed, and that we, the taxpayers, insist that the mad dog cop who steamrolled this case to the point of threatening witnesses who contradicted her preconceived notions of what happened, be fired, along with the county prosecutor who blithly prosecuted this case that was clearly falling apart even before it was even brought it to trial...

wnrsm Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> What kind of prosecutor would run this case all
> the way through with that weak of evidence? I
> thought they thrived on their success rate.
>
> Was the prosecutor bullied into doing it?

Of COURSE the prosecutor was bullied into this - no prosecutor in the whole state would NOT prosecute a child abuse case - it would be detrimental to their employment. Better to prosecute and lose a case than not to prosecute and lose a job as "outrage" spreads about a "poor child being abused with no recourse".

Grand Juries, BTW, are known far and wide as rubber stamps to whatever a prosecutor presents to them, especially when key facts are withheld from the grand juries - they are NOT presented with an entire case, just enough info to convince them that a real trial is warranted.

The over-zealous detective's name is mentioned in another thread here on the same subject. I believe she was the one who bulldozed this situation into the courtroom (perhaps in an effort to make a name for herself).

100k? Scum sucking lawyers what a bunch of assholes

FUCK_YOU_WELFARE Wrote:
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> 100k? Scum sucking lawyers what a bunch of
> assholes

I'd pay many times that (either my own or taxpayers money) to stay out of prison, especially if labeled as a "child molester."

Lawyers know this too.

Police and DA knew that the kid lied and did not stop the case right there! He should sue! As far as the school board goes, shame on us for electing these retards.

I've noticed most cops do not give a fuck about proper probable cause when an allegation / accusation is made (from domestic assault, all the way to this dude's case)..

Although I may not agree on the relationship this teacher had with his students (picking them up.. etc) - his name will be forever associated with this case...



I have a friend who was accused of putting his hands on his child's mother.. He's never been violent, does not have a police record, and no psychotic medical issues..

The other party had a history of making such claims.. long story short - my friend is suffering due to the bullshit the county is putting him through with the legal process.. He lost a good paying job and is finding it rather difficult to peruse gainful employment.

Fuck these gender bias po-po... They need more training on how to properly do their job right.

Maybe Sean shouldn't have picked the girl up and swung her around. That right there was cause for dismissal if they wanted to go after him. He didn't deny it. In fact, he said he did it to students all the time. Sure, he got hosed, but he seems about as smart as a bag of rocks and he has inappropriate contact with kids. Not sexual, just inappropriate.

BDS:

Have you ever worked with grade school kids? My mom was a first grade teacher. I recall going on a field trip with her kids when I was in my early 20's and home from college. Those kids literally jumped on me (wanted piggy back rides, etc.). It was not a case of me picking the kids up. The case was the kids jumping on me and begging for the rides. This is just what kids do. I would love to know how much time you have spent with kids in a play type of atmosphere (which is what PE really should be at that age---fun that gets them moving). We as a society are phobic about touching. Touching is not always inappropriate. As for swinging kids around, that's what the merry go round is about. Those were taken off of playgrounds because of liability issues, but kids loved them.

dude1 Wrote:
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> As far
> as the school board goes, shame on us for electing
> these retards.


You've made a great point. However, it's sad how people, who have the right to vote, don't take the time to read up on candidates, nor even spend the time to go out and exercise their right to vote. I don't understand people and why they can't accomplish this simple activity. But, they're usually one of the first people to stand up and complain about something when it isn't done right.

Commonwealth Attorney Ray Morrough needs to answer to taxpayers why his office chooses and loses.

Time to bring some new faces into prosecutors office

AppleADay Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> It has been an excruciating year and half for
> South Lakes High School physical education teacher
> Sean Lanigan.
>
> Lanigan was acquitted in 2010 of molesting a
> sixth-grade student at Centreville's Centre Ridge
> Elementary School after it later was found out the
> girl fabricated the story. He has tried for more
> than a year to have his legal fees of more than
> $100,000 reimbursed. The Fairfax County School
> Board declined, offering only $60,000 with the
> condition that Lanigan not sue any school
> officials.
>
> Lanigan rejected the partial offer and filed suit
> on Friday asking that the school board pay the
> enture $107,838, with no strings attached, writes
> Tom Jackman in The Washington Post's State of NoVa
> blog.
>
> The school board reimbursed Lanigan for the salary
> he lost while he was suspended after his January
> 2010 arrest. He was reassigned to South Lakes at
> the start of the 2010-11 school year.
>
> Lanigan told The Post earlier this year that his
> arrest, incarceration, removal from Centre Ridge
> and trial imposed needless suffering based on an
> incomplete investigation of the girls’
> allegations. He has not filed any legal action
> based on that aspect of the case.
>
> Lanigan coaches boys soccer at Herndon High School
> was The Post's 2011 Coach of the Year.

BDS Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Maybe Sean shouldn't have picked the girl up and
> swung her around. That right there was cause for
> dismissal if they wanted to go after him. He
> didn't deny it. In fact, he said he did it to
> students all the time. Sure, he got hosed, but he
> seems about as smart as a bag of rocks and he has
> inappropriate contact with kids. Not sexual, just
> inappropriate.

Parents do it all the time. The vast majority of sex abuse is committed by a parent or close relative. Maybe we need guidelines for parenting.

ASSSS