Criminal Case Against Former Visalia Special Education Teacher Dismissed; Amanda Simmons Appears in Coverage with Co-Counsel Leigh Anne Hodge

In late May 2026, a Tulare County court dismissed the ten-count misdemeanor child abuse complaint against a former Visalia Unified special education teacher. The Tulare County District Attorney’s Office had filed the complaint on April 16, 2026; a spokesperson for the office said the one-year limitations period for misdemeanors had already expired — by a matter of days.

Amanda Simmons appeared on camera in coverage of the dismissal alongside co-counsel Leigh Anne Hodge, explaining that charges were filed just after the deadline had run. Coverage aired on ABC30 Fresno on May 28 and was carried in syndication by Yahoo News and by AOL in Spanish. Co-counsel Gregory McNair of McNair Law Group has publicly connected the timing problem to the district’s delay in clarifying when the teacher was removed from the classroom.

The dismissal ends the criminal case. It does not end the families’ civil claims, which remain pending against the district.

A short criminal statute of limitations is not a finding that nothing happened. It is a deadline — and when an institution controls the information that starts the clock, delay can quietly foreclose accountability altogether. That is precisely why civil litigation and legislative reform carry as much weight as prosecution in this work.

SOURCE LINKS

•  ABC30 Fresno — “Child abuse case dismissed against former VUSD teacher,” May 28, 2026 — abc30.com