A preliminary hearing Monday involving three former Pennsylvania State University officials accused of covering up child sex abuse by former assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky is expected to highlight several challenges facing prosecutors, including admissibility of testimony against the officials.
Former university president Graham Spanier, former senior vice president of business Gary Schultz and former athletic director Tim Curley each face a total of five felony counts for perjury, endangering the welfare of children and criminal conspiracy related to their alleged failure to report abuse by Mr. Sandusky and their actions during the investigation.
Mr. Sandusky was convicted a year ago on more than 40 counts related to sexually abusing 10 boys over more than a decade. Messrs. Spanier, Curley and Schultz have maintained their innocence.
The preliminary hearing in Dauphin County Court in Harrisburg, Pa., to determine whether the case should proceed to trial also comes one year after an investigation by Louis Freeh, former head of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, concluded in a report that the three men, and former Penn State coach Joe Paterno, conspired to conceal Mr. Sandusky's abuse to protect Penn State's image.
But several legal experts said the current case faces major hurdles. There are questions about what the men knew about the abuse and what their responsibility to report it was. Moreover, it is unclear whether prosecutors will be able to admit evidence that could be key to their case.
"This was never an easy case from the beginning," said Bruce Antkowiak, a law professor at Saint Vincent College in Latrobe, Pa., and a former assistant U.S. Attorney in Pittsburgh.
If the case proceeds to trial, as many legal experts expect, it could reshape the public's understanding of the matter. "There is this very ugly cloud over Penn State," said Wes Oliver, a law professor at Duquesne University in Pittsburgh. "Imagine all three of these guys were acquitted, I think that is a game changer for how we look back at this event."
A major issue is whether testimony of Penn State's former general counsel, Cynthia Baldwin, a likely prosecution witness, would be admissible at trial. According to a grand jury report that was released by prosecutors last fall, Ms. Baldwin told investigators that Messrs. Spanier, Curley and Schultz informed her they didn't have any documents related to allegations of abuse by Mr. Sandusky. She also said Mr. Spanier was "well versed" in the allegations, according to the report.
Prosecutors allege that Messrs. Spanier, Curley and Schultz committed perjury when they testified to a grand jury that they were unfamiliar with some allegations of abuse or downplayed their severity. Prosecutors cited emails between the men to argue that they knew about several incidents but didn't report them to authorities.
Defense attorneys argue that Ms. Baldwin's grand-jury testimony should be thrown out because, they claim, Ms. Baldwin had a conflict of interest, and that the perjury and other charges related to the former officials' grand jury testimony should also be dismissed. The lawyers say that when the men appeared before the grand jury Ms. Baldwin represented them individually, as well as Penn State. Then, she provided evidence against the men to the same grand jury, defense attorneys say.
In a May court filing, Timothy Lewis, an attorney for Mr. Spanier, called Ms. Baldwin's conduct "improper, unethical, and highly prejudicial." He continued: "After representing multiple clients, learning information from each of them, and listening to their grand jury testimony, Ms. Baldwin turned around and testified against her former clients before the same grand jury."
The prosecution hasn't responded to Mr. Lewis's court filing or to the latest defense motions to quash the charges. In a filing last year, chief deputy attorney general Bruce Beemer wrote that when Ms. Baldwin represented the men "there was no actual conflict of interest." A spokesman for the attorney general's office declined to comment on the case.
Legal experts say it's unclear how a judge will rule on the issue. "It's an extraordinarily unique circumstance," said Mr. Antkowiak.
Charles De Monaco, an attorney representing Ms. Baldwin, defended her actions. "The suggestion by anyone that Ms. Baldwin didn't fulfill her ethical and professional duties to The Pennsylvania State University and its agents and administrators is untrue," he said. The court has yet to rule on motions to dismiss Ms. Baldwin's testimony and the charges against the men.
Mr. Lewis and an attorney for Mr. Schultz couldn't be reached to comment. Caroline Roberto, Mr. Curley's lawyer, said in a statement that her client was innocent. She added that it was important to remember that a preliminary hearing is "a preview of the prosecution's evidence and not an indicator of a defendant's guilt or innocence."
Defense attorneys are also expected to attack the account of former Penn State coach Mike McQueary, who testified at Mr. Sandusky's trial that he told Messrs. Curley and Schultz that he saw Mr. Sandusky sexually assault a young boy in a Penn State shower in 2001. The men, however, testified before the grand jury that Mr. McQueary described the incident as "horsing around" or "not that serious."
Mr. McQueary, whose contract was not renewed by Penn State last summer, has filed a whistleblower suit against the university. A lawyer for Mr. McQueary couldn't be reached to comment.
The defense lawyers have also argued that child-endangerment charges against the three men should be dropped because of a two-year statute of limitations. Charges of failing to report an incident of child abuse should be dropped, they said, because the three men—unlike doctors and psychologists —are not required by law to report such incidents.
The state Attorney General's office is prosecuting the case while also conducting an internal probe of its handling of the investigation. Attorney General Kathleen Kane, a Democrat, has criticized Pennsylvania's current governor, Tom Corbett, who was previously attorney general. She has said she thought Mr. Corbett, a Republican, slowed the Sandusky investigation for political gain. Mr. Corbett has repeatedly denied the allegation.
A spokesman for Ms. Kane declined to comment on the internal investigation
I don't feel sorry for any of these men. They stayed silent and protected a pedophile for years, especially the coach, Joe Paterno. (God rest his soul)
RIGHT'S RIGHT 
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Sun Jul 28, 2013 11:05 pm
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