SEX-HARASSMENT HISTORY BARRED FROM RAPE TRIAL; '89 CASE COULD PREJUDICE JURY, JUDGE SAYS
PATRICIA DAVIS WASHINGTON POST STAFF WRITER
Friday, March 19, 1999 ; Page B04
An Alexandria jury will not be told that Anthony Rizzo, who is charged with sexually assaulting a child in the mid-1980s, was fired in 1989 from his job as a Fairfax County principal for sexually harassing female teachers or that he claims to have a permanent sexual disorder, a judge ruled yesterday.
Rizzo, 62, is scheduled to stand trial March 29 in Alexandria Circuit Court on charges that he repeatedly raped and sexually assaulted the daughter of a former employee of Edison High School from 1984 to 1986, when the child was between the ages of 10 and 12 and Rizzo was the school's assistant principal. Circuit Court Judge John E. Kloch ruled that introducing such evidence would be prejudicial to Rizzo's defense. If, however, Rizzo's attorney tries to portray Rizzo's character in a way that conflicts with those facts, the prosecution can then present that evidence to the jury, the judge said.
Assistant Commonwealth's Attorney Molly Frio had argued that Rizzo's behavior toward female teachers and other subordinates would be relevant evidence. She also said the jury should be told that Rizzo was allowed to retire on disability after claiming that he has a permanent "psychosexual disorder" that makes him unable to supervise women without trying to coerce them into having sex.
Rizzo's state disability benefit of about $38,000 a year is more than three times the amount of a normal pension. Rizzo's attorney, Rodney Leffler, said such evidence would be both irrelevant and prejudicial. "The jury is likely to accept this testimony as having a material bearing on Rizzo's predisposition to commit sexual assault," Leffler argued. "This is illogical."
The alleged victim, now 24, told Alexandria police last June that Rizzo raped and sexually assaulted her "hundreds" of times at his residences in Culpeper and Alexandria and at her mother's home, according to her statements filed in court. The Washington Post generally does not identify alleged victims of sexual assault. The woman decided to file criminal charges only recently because she has graduated from college and is on her own now, her statement said.
She said that at the time the abuse allegedly occurred, Rizzo told her that if she told anyone about it, she would be in "big trouble." She also was afraid that her mother, who believed Rizzo was a good "role model," would be ashamed of her if she knew about the abuse, the daughter stated. According to a report filed in court, a recent sexual-assault exam by a nurse showed that the woman has injuries "supportive of an allegation of sexual assault." But Rizzo's attorney said in court yesterday that the nurse cannot rule out the possibility that the injuries were caused by consensual sex in the intervening years.
If Rizzo is convicted of the charges, the Virginia attorney general's office plans to ask the Alexandria prosecutor to try to seek a restitution package for the victim that could be tied to his disability payments. Yesterday's ruling does not affect those plans. The Virginia Retirement System lost a nearly 10-year battle with Rizzo, who claimed his sexual disorder made him eligible for lifetime disability payments after he was fired in Fairfax, even though he did not agree with his own doctor's diagnosis or even admit to harassing the teachers.
State officials, noting Rizzo's refusal to seek treatment, said giving him disability payments would reward him for the "reprehensible conduct" that caused his firing. But they lost on a technicality last year when the state Supreme Court said they missed a deadline for making a decision on his claim. Rizzo's attorney in the disability fight, C. Waverly Parker, says that the state is a "sore loser" and that the attempt by the attorney general's office to intervene in the current criminal case is a "misuse of the criminal process."
Cutline: Anthony Rizzo, accused of raping a young girl, was fired as a principal for sexually harassing his teachers. Articles appear as they were originally printed in The Washington Post and may not include subsequent corrections.
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WOMAN TELLS COURT OF ALLEGED RAPES; FORMER FAIRFAX PRINCIPAL DENIES ASSAULTS
PATRICIA DAVIS; BROOKE A. MASTERS WASHINGTON POST STAFF WRITERS
Tuesday, March 30, 1999 ; Page B05
A 24-year-old woman who says former Fairfax County principal Anthony M. Rizzo Jr. raped and sexually assaulted her hundreds of times in the mid-1980s testified yesterday that Rizzo warned her she would be "in big trouble" if she told anyone.
In emotional and often graphic testimony, the woman told an Alexandria Circuit Court jury that the alleged abuse began when she was 10 years old and continued for several years at Rizzo's residences in Culpeper, Va., and Alexandria and at her mother's home. Shame and fear prevented her from coming forward sooner, she said. "I was just so scared," she said, testifying on the first day of Rizzo's trial. "I felt like it was my fault. He told me how I had a body of a woman. I thought that I had made it happen."
But Rizzo, taking the stand later in the day, strongly denied the allegations. He said he "absolutely did not" have a sexual relationship with his accuser. His attorney, Rodney Leffler, called the woman's charges "groundless allegations," questioned her motives for coming forward now and said he would point out discrepancies in her statements.
Rizzo, now 62, was assistant principal at Edison High School in Fairfax when the alleged abuse occurred. The woman testified that her mother was an Edison employee at the time and was involved in a personal relationship with Rizzo. Because of an earlier court ruling, jurors will not be told that Rizzo was fired several years later, in 1989, from his job as principal of Edison for sexually harassing female teachers.
A judge also has barred the prosecution from telling the jury that Rizzo is receiving lifetime disability payments from the state after contending that he suffers from a permanent sexual disorder. The Virginia Supreme Court last year ordered the state retirement system to pay Rizzo about $38,000 a year -- more than three times the amount of a normal pension -- because state officials missed a deadline for making a decision on his claim.
Rizzo is charged with raping and sexually assaulting the daughter of the former Edison employee on numerous occasions from September 1984 to July 1986. The woman testified that although she did not go to police until last summer, she told a fellow college student several years ago about what had happened. Talking about it for the first time "overwhelmed me," she said.
According to yesterday's testimony, a dormitory counselor told officials at the college in 1992 that the woman might be suicidal. Leffler, trying to discredit the woman's testimony, argued that in numerous sessions with counselors at the school, she never mentioned the alleged sexual abuse.
The Washington Post is not naming the woman because of its general policy not to identify alleged victims of sexual assault. The woman's mother testified that while in college, her daughter told her about the alleged abuse but that she did not believe it. Only recently has she come to believe that Rizzo raped her daughter, she said. In his testimony yesterday, Rizzo described himself as "a father figure" to both the alleged victim and her younger sister. He noted that he remained friends with the woman's mother for six years after the accusations surfaced. Cutline: Anthony M. Rizzo Jr. is accused of assaulting a child in the 1980s. Articles appear as they were originally printed in The Washington Post and may not include subsequent corrections.
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MISTRIAL DECLARED IN EX-PRINCIPAL'S RAPE CASE
PATRICIA DAVIS WASHINGTON POST STAFF WRITER
Wednesday, March 31, 1999 ; Page B01
An Alexandria Circuit Court judge declared a mistrial yesterday in the trial of former Fairfax County principal Anthony M. Rizzo Jr., after jurors could not agree on whether Rizzo repeatedly raped and sexually assaulted a child in the mid-1980s. After five hours of deliberations, the jurors sent Judge Alfred D. Swersky a note saying they were hopelessly deadlocked, 6 to 6.
Prosecutors said later that they plan to retry the case. "Everybody felt very strongly about each of their held views," the jury foreman, John Rasmus, 57, said as he was leaving the courthouse. "There were concerns on the evidence." "There was no hard evidence," said another juror, who declined to give his name. During their closing arguments yesterday, both the defense and prosecution agreed that the case revolved around the credibility of two people who testified during the two-day trial: the 62-year-old Rizzo and his 24-year-old accuser.
"One of them is telling you the truth, and one of them is lying," Assistant Commonwealth's Attorney Molly Frio told the jury. "She [the alleged victim] has been blatantly honest with you. She has no secrets left." The alleged victim testified that Rizzo raped and sexually assaulted her "hundreds" of times beginning at age 10, when her mother was involved in a personal relationship with him. At the time, Rizzo was assistant principal at Edison High School and her mother's boss.
A prior court ruling prevented jurors from hearing that Rizzo, who later became Edison's principal, was fired from his job for sexually harassing teachers. Nor could they be told that Rizzo had filed a claim with the state, saying he suffers from a permanent sexual disorder that makes him unable to supervise women without trying to coerce them into having sex. After a 10-year legal fight, the Virginia Retirement System denied Rizzo's request for a disability pension, saying that giving him the extra benefits would be tantamount to rewarding him for reprehensible behavior. But the state Supreme Court ordered the agency to pay Rizzo disability benefits of about $38,000 a year, saying it had missed a deadline for making a decision.
Linda Morissette, one of the Edison teachers who had accused Rizzo of harassment in the case that led to his firing in 1989, took the stand briefly yesterday. Asked about Rizzo's reputation for veracity while at Edison, Morissette said that it was "bad." But in his closing remarks yesterday, Rizzo's attorney, Rodney Leffler, questioned the alleged victim's motives in accusing Rizzo and wondered what role the traumatic divorce of her parents had played in her decision. He asked jurors how they could send a 62-year-old man to prison for the rest of his life based primarily on the word of one person. "There has to be more than this," Leffler told the jury.
The alleged victim, who broke down sobbing on the witness stand several times during her testimony, told jurors that Rizzo had raped and sexually assaulted her in his homes in Culpeper, Va., and Alexandria and at her mother's home. But she said shame and fear prevented her from coming forward at that time. Her mother testified that she did not believe her daughter initially, when the allegations first surfaced in 1992.
Her daughter, a freshman in college at the time, made what was perceived to be a suicide threat after telling another student about the alleged sexual abuse. Frio told the jury that sexual abuse of children is a crime that usually has no witnesses and that there was no forensic evidence because so much time had passed. In several notes to the judge, jurors seem to be asking for more evidence. Leffler said Rizzo is prepared to go to trial again. "We are pleased that those who felt so strongly honored their convictions," he said.
Articles appear as they were originally printed in The Washington Post and may not include subsequent corrections.
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RETRIAL OF EX-PRINCIPAL BEGINS; DEFENSE IN RAPE CASE INTENSIFIES QUESTIONING OF ACCUSER
PATRICIA DAVIS WASHINGTON POST STAFF WRITER
Tuesday, May 25, 1999 ; Page B05
The retrial of Anthony M. Rizzo Jr., the former Fairfax County principal charged with repeatedly raping and sexually assaulting a young girl in the mid-1980s, began yesterday in Alexandria Circuit Court with his attorney stepping up his attack on the credibility of Rizzo's accuser. Just minutes into his cross-examination, defense attorney Rodney Leffler began bearing down on Rizzo's accuser, who is now 24 years old, about what he called discrepancies between her testimony yesterday and at Rizzo's first trial in March.
Leffler asked the woman why she had testified differently the first time about when the some of the alleged abuse occurred and what type of abuse happened where. "It happened so many times!" said the woman, breaking down in tears on the witness stand. "How could I remember all of them, when I tried to block them out?" Alexandria Chief Circuit Court Judge Donald M. Haddock ordered a brief recess so the woman could compose herself.
She says Rizzo raped and sexually assaulted her "hundreds" of times over several years beginning at age 10, when her mother was involved in a personal relationship with him. At the time, Rizzo was assistant principal at Edison High School and her mother's boss. In referring to the woman's prior testimony, Leffler indicated that there had been an earlier hearing of some kind but did not mention the first trial.
The jurors will not be told that Rizzo, 62, has been tried before on the charges and that a mistrial was declared when the jury deadlocked 6 to 6. A prior court ruling has prevented the prosecutor from telling either jury that Rizzo, who later became Edison's principal, was fired from the principal's job for sexually harassing teachers. Nor could they be told that Rizzo filed a claim with the state after his dismissal saying he suffered from a permanent sexual disorder that made him unable to supervise women without trying to coerce them into having sex. Rizzo is getting a disability pension of about $38,000 a year from the state -- more than three times the amount of a normal pension -- because the Virginia Supreme Court ruled that the state retirement system missed a deadline for making a decision on his claim.
During his opening statement yesterday, Leffler made it clear that, this time around, he was going to take the gloves off when questioning Rizzo's accuser. Leffler told jurors that the woman was "ill," that she had been so most of her life and that her own mother had called her daughter "crazy." After jurors deadlocked during the first trial, they said in interviews that they wanted to see more evidence from the prosecution. Assistant Commonwealth's Attorney Molly Frio planned to try to bolster her case by calling more witnesses to support Rizzo's accuser.
The Washington Post generally does not identify alleged victims of sexual assault. Just as at the first trial, the woman told jurors yesterday that she had been afraid to tell her mother about the abuse at the time it occurred and that she blamed herself in great part for what was happening. She testified that Rizzo, who had become a father figure to her after her parents' divorce, raped and sexually assaulted her at his homes in Culpeper, Va., and in Alexandria and at her mother's home.
Her testimony was shorter this time and much less graphic, but she remained emotional on the stand. "He told me if I told anyone he would be in a lot of trouble," she said, crying. "I truly believed that I was making this happen." When she finally began talking with college friends about her past, her life and grades began to unravel, she said.
Not until after college, with the support of a boyfriend, was she able to go to police, she said. "I know it happened," the woman said forcefully, saying it was difficult to remember dates so many years later. "I want to heal."
Cutline: Anthony M. Rizzo is charged with raping and sexually assaulting a young girl in the mid-1980s. Articles appear as they were originally printed in The Washington Post and may not include subsequent corrections.
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DEADLOCKED JURY ENDS RAPE TRIAL OF EX-PRINCIPAL
PATRICIA DAVIS WASHINGTON POST STAFF WRITER
Wednesday, May 26, 1999 ; Page B01
For the second time in two months, a mistrial was declared last night in the case of Anthony M. Rizzo Jr., when jurors could not agree whether the former Fairfax County principal had repeatedly raped and sexually assaulted a child 15 years ago. After nearly four hours of deliberations, the jurors sent Chief Alexandria Circuit Court Judge Donald M. Haddock a note saying they were divided 8 to 4 and had "fundamental differences" with no hope of resolving them.
The alleged victim, who is now 24, said she would have no comment until a decision is made on whether Rizzo will be tried for a third time. Assistant Commonwealth's Attorney Molly Frio said the decision would be made within a week. Rizzo's attorney, Rodney Leffler, said he hopes, for the sake of taxpayers, Rizzo's family and the U.S. Constitution, that "the government will quit." Jurors leaving the courthouse last night said the majority had voted for acquittal.
"Several people found her story compelling," said John F. Harris, the jury foreman, who is a reporter for The Washington Post. "Many people were troubled by the length of time that had expired. There were many people who, for a variety of reasons, could not get over the reasonable doubt threshold."
During the two-day trial, the woman who had accused Rizzo testified that he had raped and sexually assaulted her "hundreds" of times over several years beginning at age 10. She said the abuse had occurred at Rizzo's farm in Orange County, Va., and at both of their Alexandria homes when her mother was dating Rizzo.
Prosecutor Frio told the jury in closing arguments that a guilty verdict would help erase "years of hurt" to the woman. But defense attorney Leffler asked jurors whether they would be able to look themselves in the mirror if they sent his 62-year-old client to prison based on the testimony of a "suicidal, emotionally disturbed" woman. "If you find him guilty, he will most likely die in the penitentiary," Leffler said. "Is she a victim of Tony Rizzo? Or is she a victim of life?"
The jurors were not told that they were sitting at Rizzo's second trial. Another mistrial was declared in March when a jury deadlocked 6 to 6. Just as he had done in his first trial, Rizzo took the witness stand yesterday to assert his innocence. He suggested that his accuser made up her story because she was angry when he stopped dating her mother and she no longer received the level of attention that he had given her -- and that she craved -- after her parents divorced.
Rizzo, who was involved in a relationship with his accuser's mother when she worked for him at Edison High School, where he was assistant principal, said he had become a father figure to his girlfriend's daughter. "She felt like I deserted her emotionally -- just like her father," Rizzo said. "Because I was not showing her as much attention." Because of a prior ruling, Frio was not allowed to ask Rizzo, who later became principal of Edison, about his being fired from that job after he sexually harassed teachers. She also was prohibited from bringing up his claim to the state after the dismissal, in which he said he suffered from a permanent psychosexual disorder that made him unable to supervise women without trying to coerce them into having sex.
Frio did, however, ask Rizzo about a comment he made to his accuser last summer during a telephone conversation recorded by police. In that phone call, she told Rizzo she had just learned that he and her mother used to have a sexual relationship. When she asked him how he could be having sex with both her mother and her, he answered: "I knew your mother before I knew you." Rizzo said his comment, which was played for the jury, had been taken out of context and that he had not been referring to sex.
At the time of the phone call, he said, he suspected the conversation was being taped because he had been aware of the woman's allegations against him for some time. His attorney told jurors that Rizzo's accuser, who he said has "reveled in her status as a victim," cries sexual abuse whenever she is in trouble. He cited the numerous times she told counselors at the College of William and Mary, when she was a student there, that she had been abused, as a way to get therapy and to explain her plummeting grades.
The Washington Post is not naming the woman because of its general policy not to identify alleged victims of sexual assault. Rizzo's accuser testified that she did not go to police until last summer because she feared the reaction of her mother, who she said had been seriously ill.
The woman's mother testified yesterday that when she first heard the allegations she did not believe her daughter and feared the story would ruin her own reputation. She said she does believe her daughter now. "She's my heartbeat," she said of her daughter. "I no longer hold him [Rizzo] in the same esteem for a lot of reasons." Staff writer Jay Mathews contributed to this report.
Articles appear as they were originally printed in The Washington Post and may not include subsequent corrections.
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EX-PRINCIPAL'S WITHHELD PAST COULD HAVE SWAYED SOME JURORS
PATRICIA DAVIS WASHINGTON POST STAFF WRITER
Thursday, May 27, 1999 ; Page B02
After two mistrials in the case of a former Fairfax County principal charged with molesting a child 15 years ago, some jurors said yesterday that they should have been given more information about the defendant's past and that it might have resulted in a guilty verdict.
On Tuesday, for the second time in two months, the trial of Anthony M. Rizzo Jr. ended in a hung jury. The Alexandria Circuit Court jury was divided 8 to 4 in favor of acquittal. Assistant Commonwealth's Attorney Molly Frio yesterday criticized the law that prevented her from telling either jury that Rizzo has claimed he has a permanent sexual disorder.
Rizzo made that claim when he applied for a disability pension after being fired from his job as Edison High School principal in 1989 for sexually harassing teachers. He told state retirement officials he had a disorder that prevented him from supervising women without trying to coerce them into having sex. Frio said she has not decided whether to try Rizzo for a third time.
Hilary Carr, one of the eight jurors who was in favor of acquitting Rizzo during Tuesday's deliberations, said she found it "unbelievable" that the jury wasn't told about the sexual harassment or the alleged sexual disorder. "I don't think I would have come up with the same verdict," said Carr, 48, a resource analyst. "As far as I'm concerned, that's like withholding evidence." Joan Britt, one of the jurors in Rizzo's first trial, which ended in a 6 to 6 vote, said the judge at that trial, Alfred D. Swersky, told the panel afterward about Rizzo's dismissal and pension claim.
The news elicited gasps, and one juror who had voted for acquittal broke down in tears, Britt said. "It was one of the most horrible experiences I ever had," said Britt, 62, who runs an exercise business and was among those voting for conviction. Rodney Leffler, who defended Rizzo at both trials, said that if the prosecution had been allowed to provide more information, he would have presented his own case differently.
"They don't know how they would have voted, because they don't know how I would have responded to it," Leffler said. "And that's what's wrong with second-guessing jury verdicts." Both Frio and Leffler said Alexandria Circuit Court Judge John E. Kloch followed state law when he ruled before the first trial that it would be prejudicial to Rizzo's case to tell jurors about his firing or his pension battle with the state.
Frio said the problem is the law that the judge applied, which bars prosecutors from introducing evidence of a defendant's "bad character." The diagnosis that Rizzo's psychiatrist presented to the state retirement system was extremely relevant and should have been given to the jury, she said. Rizzo eventually won the disability pension of about $38,000 a year, which is more than three times as large as normal. The Virginia Supreme Court ordered retirement officials to make the payments, ruling that they had missed a deadline for making a decision in the case.
The alleged sexual abuse occurred when Rizzo was assistant principal at Edison. Rizzo's accuser, now 24, told jurors that Rizzo raped and sexually assaulted her "hundreds" of times beginning when she was about 10. Her mother worked for Rizzo at Edison and was dating him at the time. Rizzo denied the allegations and said his accuser had made up the story because she was angry that he had deserted her and her mother.
Fairfax Commonwealth's Attorney Robert F. Horan Jr., who was not involved in the Rizzo case, said Kloch probably ruled correctly when he barred the prosecution from introducing evidence about Rizzo's disability claim. "I certainly think it has . . . value on the issue of whether he would take advantage of a young child," Horan said. "But I'm not sure the case law allows that kind of evidence in." Knowing about Rizzo's diagnosis and firing would have been helpful to jurors who were weighing a case based primarily on Rizzo's word against his accuser's, said John F. Harris, the jury foreman in the second trial and a reporter for The Washington Post.
"This would have been clearly suggestive of a pattern that I think would have elevated the case beyond the he-said, she-said," said Harris, who voted for conviction. "I gather we're not supposed to know this because it is considered so prejudicial that we would not be able to fairly judge the evidence. And I don't think that's true, because my sense of the jury is that everybody was more than ready to extend [Rizzo] every reasonable doubt."
Articles appear as they were originally printed in The Washington Post and may not include subsequent corrections.
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ALEXANDRIA WON'T TRY EX-PRINCIPAL AGAIN; SEX ABUSE CASE MAY PROCEED ELSEWHERE
PATRICIA DAVIS WASHINGTON POST STAFF WRITER
Thursday, June 3, 1999 ; Page B06
An Alexandria prosecutor said yesterday that she will not try former Fairfax County principal Anthony M. Rizzo Jr. for a third time on charges that he molested a child 15 years ago, but the chief prosecutor in Orange County, Va., said he is now considering seeking an indictment against Rizzo.
Timothy Sanner, the commonwealth's attorney for Orange County, where some of the alleged offenses occurred, said he plans to review the two trials held in Alexandria Circuit Court, which both ended in mistrials after jurors could not reach unanimous verdicts. "We're obviously going to have to look at what transpired in Alexandria and see if there is something that could be handled differently here," Sanner said. "It is conceivable we will take some action."
Alexandria Assistant Commonwealth's Attorney Molly Frio said she decided to dismiss the four felony charges against Rizzo, 62, because she would be unable to give a third jury any more evidence than she had given the first two. It was a difficult case for both juries, Frio said. She said she could not bolster the alleged victim's testimony with any physical evidence because the woman, now 24, went to police so many years after the events in question.
"The prosecutor was a fair and decent adversary, and I appreciate her decision to abandon the prosecution," said Rodney Leffler, Rizzo's attorney. "Although Mr. Rizzo and his family will be terribly disappointed if the Orange County prosecutor moves against him, we will deal with that when and if it happens." Rizzo's accuser said he raped and sexually assaulted her "hundreds" of times over a period of four years, beginning when she was about 10. She did not go to police sooner, she testified, because she was worried about the effect it would have on her mother, who was suffering from a liver disease.
At the time the alleged abuse occurred, her mother was dating Rizzo, who was assistant principal of Edison High School and her mother's supervisor. The alleged abuse occurred at Rizzo's farm in Orange County and at his home in Alexandria, as well as at the mother's residence. Because of a prior court ruling, Frio was not allowed to tell either jury that Rizzo, who later became principal at Edison, was fired from that job for sexually harassing teachers at the school. Nor could Frio tell jurors that Rizzo later claimed to suffer from a sexual disorder that made him unable to supervise women without trying to coerce them into having sex with him.
Although state retirement officials rejected his claim for a disability pension based on that diagnosis, the Virginia Supreme Court ordered them to pay him disability benefits of about $38,000 a year, saying they had missed a deadline for making a decision in his case. An Alexandria judge ruled that it would be prejudicial to bring up Rizzo's dismissal and pension claim during the criminal trial. After the second mistrial, several jurors from both panels said that they should have been told about Rizzo's past and that it might have changed their verdicts to guilty.
Sandy Hein, the lead Alexandria police detective in the case, said she and Rizzo's accuser will be meeting with sheriff's deputies and the prosecutor in Orange County. "I completely believe her," Hein said of Rizzo's accuser. "I feel sorry for all she's gone through, and I believe she deserves to reach a point where she's at peace with the outcome."
Cutline: Former principal Anthony M. Rizzo Jr. has been tried twice on charges that he molested a child 15 years ago. Articles appear as they were originally printed in The Washington Post and may not include subsequent corrections.
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