Graham Spanier charged in Jerry Sandusky sex abuse case

PA Attorney General Linda Kelly and Pennsylvania State Police Commissioner Frank Noonan announce criminal charges filed against former Penn State President Graham Spanier related to the ongoing child sex crimes investigation involving Jerry Sandusky. JOE HERMITT, The Patriot-News, file

The state attorney general's office filed Friday what amounts to four pages detailing alleged lies told by former Penn State President Graham Spanier in his grand jury testimony from the Jerry Sandusky child sex abuse probe.

The allegations in the prosecutors' itemized list are not new.

But the specifics are categorized in an answer to Spanier's request earlier this fall for a bill of particulars: a legal protection designed to pin prosecutors down as specifically as possible to the facts alleged in a crime.

This is done so that the defense can assure itself a fair chance to prepare for trial, without being ambushed by new allegations or facts.

On most charges, Attorney General Kathleen Kane's attorneys stonewalled Spanier's request, arguing sufficient information about the case has already been released via the grand jury presentment, the July preliminary hearing, or other means.

But when asked to “specify and quote” each statement from Spanier’s April 2011 testimony before the Sandusky grand jury that was alleged to be false, Kane’s prosecutors obliged.

Among the key points from Spanier’s claims at Strawberry Square that day:

When asked if there was any discussion about reporting the 2001 shower incident witnessed by former Penn State assistant football coach Mike McQueary to police, Spanier said “No.”

Emails discovered later in the probe contain a three-way discussion between Spanier, his then-senior vice president for finance and business Gary Schultz and Athletic Director Tim Curley seemingly going over the pros and cons of just such a move.

They ultimately decided against filing a report at that time.

Spanier said he was never been informed of an earlier, 1998 university police investigation of another shower room incident with Sandusky, then the longtime defensive coordinator to legendary head football coach Joe Paterno.

In that case, emails show that Schultz and Curley, Spanier’s co-defendants in what some have called a “conspiracy of silence,” had been keeping close tabs on the 1998 probe.

Spanier was copied on at least one of those emails – a recap from Schultz, who had been in regular communication with the Penn State police chief, noting that no charges would be filed and that the matter appeared to be closed.

In a matter sure to be hotly disputed at trial, Spanier testified he never knew the allegations against Sandusky were of a sexual nature. Spanier told the jurors he was told a staff member (McQueary) had witnessed “horsing around” in the showers that made that staff member uncomfortable.

McQueary has repeatedly testified that he told Paterno, and later Curley and Schultz, that he believed he was witnessing a sexual assault.

Spanier told grand jurors that message was never conveyed to him, and “I know better than to jump to conclusions about things like that.”

Prosecutors will likely hold that assertion up against the February 2001 e-mails in which the three former Penn State administrators discuss Sandusky’s “problem” and how best to handle it.

Spanier, at one point, signs off on Curley’s suggestion to not report to police or child welfare agencies and instead require that he seek professional help, calling it would be the “humane” way to proceed.

Spanier has resolutely maintained his innocence in the Sandusky cover-up case. His attorney, Elizabeth Ainslie, could not be reached for this story.

The perjury charges will not be easy to prove.

To convict, jurors must find that Spanier gave answers under oath that he knew to be false, with the specific intent of trying to mislead the grand jury.

If jurors find that Spanier could credibly claim that he simply made a mistake in trying to recall events from 10 years earlier, that would be enough to sink that aspect of the case.

There’s also the matter of the interplay between the three defendants.

Curley and Schultz, in their grand jury testimony several months before Spanier, also denied ever hearing from McQueary or Paterno that the assault McQueary witnessed was sexual in nature, though Schultz stated that he did get the impression that there was “inappropriate” touching and that “maybe Jerry might have grabbed the young boy’s genitals.”

In Spanier’s case, jurors will also need to discern exactly what Spanier learned about the 2001 incident from his aides.

Former Penn State President Graham Spanier walks from Dauphin County courthouse during a break in his July preliminary hearing. 07/29/2013 Dan Gleiter | dgleiter@pennlive.com

Sandusky, 69, was convicted in June 2012 of serially sexually abusing 10 boys between 1994 and 2008. The university has since settled civil claims with a total of 26 victims.

Sandusky is serving a minimum 30-year prison sentence in western Pennsylvania.

Spanier, Curley and Schultz were relieved of their duties by the board of trustees immediately after Sandusky’s November 2011 arrest.

Besides perjury, all three former Penn State leaders were subsequently charged with failing to report an allegation of child abuse, endangering the welfare of children by failing to act strongly enough in the wake of the Sandusky allegations, and taking other steps to interfere with the state Attorney General's probe from 2009 through 2011.

The administrators' trial is expected to take place next year, though Dauphin County Judge Todd Hoover has scheduled a hearing on several key pre-trial matters for the week of Dec. 16.