Video: Sean Lanigan spoke with The Washington Post's Tom Jackman about what it was like telling his daughters he was falsely accused of molesting a 12-year-old girl.
She testified that Lanigan told her he would “treat her like a queen,” which is a line from a song by one of her favorite rock groups, the Ataris.
Greenspun gently cross-examined, and she admitted a history of bullying younger children, her conflicts with Lanigan and her Facebook posting that “it was a joke.” The girl also acknowledged she was mad at the gym teacher for not playing her favorite music in PE class.
Sean Lanigan
“Did you tell other kids you hated Mr. Lanigan?” Greenspun asked.
“Yes,” the girl replied.
“You hated him before this happened?”
“Yes.”
Lanigan took the stand in his own defense: “I scooped [the accuser] up by her knees, put my hand on her back, just spun her around, ‘whooo’ and put her down.”
Greenspun asked, “Did you ever take [the accuser and her friend] to the large equipment room?”
“Absolutely not,” Lanigan said.
“I love kids,” Lanigan told the jury. “I’ve tried working in the real world. Teaching and coaching is my life.”
“Did you grope or molest this child?” Greenspun asked.
“No.”
The closing arguments had barely ended when jurors rendered their not-guilty verdicts.
“It was an easy decision, and we were all in agreement,” juror Asman al-Ghafari said. “I just hope Mr. Lanigan can get his life back.”
“There was no evidence,” said Jacklyn West, who wept in the jury box as the lawyers made their closing arguments, later explaining that the 12-year-old accuser “had no idea of the consequences” of her allegations. “This poor man. That’s why I cried.”
Virginia’s public soccer leagues immediately reinstated Lanigan as a coach. But the Fairfax school district was much slower. It waited three months, until just before the start of the school year, to decide that Lanigan could not return to Centre Ridge. He was transferred to South Lakes High School in Reston, and given a part-time job, teaching five out of every 10 days, though he was paid a full-time salary.
His wife couldn’t work because South Lakes was far enough away to deprive Lanigan of his role in watching and driving their children. She had to take up the slack.
Despite the acquittal, the district began an internal reprimand process. And in December, as Lanigan pushed to have his legal fees reimbursed, the district presented him with two pages of specially tailored “guidelines and expectations.”
“Do not touch FCPS students as a means of greeting, playing with, showing approval of, or otherwise interacting with them,” the guidelines state. “Avoid placing yourself in close physical proximity to any student, particularly in a manner that could be interpreted as sexual. . . . Do not be alone in your office or other rooms with a student unless the door is open and you and the student are visible from outside the room.”
Bill Cummings, a longtime friend and supporter of Lanigan, said: “They are so fixated on him being guilty that they’re pushing to put the set of expectations in his file, so he could inadvertently trip on one of them and cause them to dismiss him. They can’t see that everyone knows him as an honest and decent man.”
In March, the school district offered to pay $60,000 of Lanigan’s fees, less than half, if he would waive any future legal claims. And last month, he was “de-staffed” from South Lakes, meaning that he must apply for a job at other schools in the district.
“I just hope that one day I can put this whole mess behind me,” Lanigan said, “and outlive the dark cloud over my name and reputation from this false allegation.”
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