A Virginia judge declined an attempt by the former superintendent of Loudoun County Public Schools to have three misdemeanor criminal charges thrown out.

Judge Douglas Fleming denied Scott Ziegler's request Thursday to have the three misdemeanor charges against him thrown out. Ziegler was indicted by a special grand jury in December that was tasked with investigating the school district's response to a pair of sexual assaults that occurred in district high schools in 2021.

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The ruling in Ziegler's case comes after Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R-VA) issued a pardon to Scott Smith, the father of one of the sexual assault victims, who was arrested at a 2021 school board meeting for disorderly conduct after an attendee reportedly told Smith that she didn't believe his daughter had been assaulted. The image of Smith's arrest proved to be an enduring image of the school board's handling of the incidents.

The special grand jury was impaneled by Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares, who had vowed to investigate the district's response to the assaults during his 2021 campaign. In its report, the special grand jury said the district "failed at every juncture" in responding to the assaults.

Ziegler was quickly fired by the Loudoun County School Board after the grand jury report was released. He was subsequently charged with one count of misdemeanor false publication, one count of misdemeanor prohibited conduct, and one count of misdemeanor penalizing an employee for a court appearance. The charges carry possible jail time of up to one year.

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Ziegler's attorney, Erin Hannigan, reportedly accused the prosecution of improperly influencing the grand jury proceedings and the subsequent report, thus tainting Ziegler's indictment, according to FOX 5.

The judge's ruling means that the trial against the disgraced school official will now move forward. Ziegler is due in court next week.