Ex-Penn St. Coach Sandusky Charged With Homo Sex Abuse of Young Boys

[The Bobster]

https://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/new...ate-President-Spanier-Jail-May-508428411.html

Judge Orders Former Penn State President Spanier to Jail May 1
Published Apr 11, 2019 at 8:18 AM
By Mark Scolforo

Former Penn State President Graham Spanier must report to jail by May 1 to start serving a criminal sentence for his handling of a complaint about Jerry Sandusky showering with a boy, under a judge's order made public Wednesday.

Judge John Boccabella said Spanier may do his time in the jail near his home in State College if county jail wardens approve. If not, he has to report to the Dauphin County Prison in Harrisburg. The judge also gave his approval for Spanier to participate in a work-release program.

Spanier, 70, has remained out on bail since his 2017 conviction by a jury of a single misdemeanor count of child endangerment. He was sentenced to a minimum of two months in jail and two months of house arrest.

A lawyer for Spanier declined to comment Wednesday. The attorney general's office, which prosecuted Spanier, also did not comment.

Spanier was forced out as university president in November 2011, days after Sandusky, a former assistant football coach at Penn State, was first charged with child molestation. Spanier was charged a year later, although many of the counts against him were thrown out prior to trial.

Two high-ranking administrators under Spanier, former athletic director Tim Curley and former vice president Gary Schultz, pleaded guilty to child endangerment on the eve of trial and testified against him.

The state Supreme Court in February declined to take up Spanier's appeal, leaving in place a lower court's decision that had upheld his conviction.

Last month, Spanier filed a federal petition asking a judge to vacate his conviction, arguing that it involved a version of the law that wasn't in place at the time of the 2001 shower incident and challenging how the statute of limitations was applied to his case.

Spanier did not testify on his own behalf and told Boccabella at sentencing that he regretted not intervening more forcefully.

He has said Sandusky's attack on the boy was characterized to him as horseplay.

A Penn State spokeswoman said Wednesday Spanier remains a tenured faculty member on administrative leave.

Sandusky is serving a 30- to 60-year state prison sentence and recently won an order for a new sentence. He continues to assert his innocence.

 

[The Bobster]

https://philadelphia.cbslocal.com/2...al-after-graham-spanier-convision-thrown-out/

Pennsylvania Attorney General To Appeal After Judge Throws Out Ex-Penn State President’s Conviction
May 1, 2019 at 1:30 pm

HARRISBURG, Pa. (CBS/AP) — Pennsylvania’s attorney general will appeal a federal judge’s decision to vacate the child-endangerment conviction of former Penn State President Graham Spanier. Attorney General Josh Shapiro announced the decision Wednesday, a day after U.S. Magistrate Judge Karoline Mehalchick ruled Spanier was improperly charged under a 2007 law for actions that occurred in 2001.

“Graham Spanier, as President of Penn State University, was personally advised that children were being sexually abused on school property,” said Shapiro. “Evidence proved he chose not to help the children—but instead to cover up the abuse, despite being well aware of his responsibility as a supervisor.

Mehalchick gave Shapiro’s office three months to retry Spanier, who had been convicted for how he responded in 2001 to a complaint about former assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky showering with a boy.

Shapiro says federal courts have limited power to act in state criminal cases, and argues Mehalchick exceeded that authority.

“In a last-minute and highly unusual decision yesterday evening, a federal magistrate set Spanier free just before he was finally about to begin serving his deserved sentence. Federal courts have very limited power to act in state criminal proceedings, and this ruling plainly exceeded that power,” said Shapiro.

Spanier was forced out as president shortly after Sandusky’s arrest in November 2011.

The 70-year-old had been scheduled to begin serving two months in jail Wednesday.

 

[The Bobster]

https://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news/local/Graham-Spanier-Penn-State-Appeal-509366291.html

Ex-PSU President Richly Paid as He Fought Charges
Published May 2, 2019 at 5:38 AM

Former Penn State President Graham Spanier's success this week in getting his child-endangerment conviction overturned capped a seven-year fight to save his reputation and stay out of jail, a period during which he has been richly compensated by the university he once ran.

Spanier no longer has an office on campus and is not teaching, but he still collects a salary as a tenured professor on administrative leave. Penn State won't say what it pays him, and the school is largely exempt from the state open records law.

What is known is that Spanier collected several million dollars from the school in the years immediately after his ouster as president in 2011.

Hours before he was to report to jail to serve two months, a federal judge late Tuesday threw out his misdemeanor conviction for failing to tell police or child-welfare authorities of an eyewitness' account in 2001 that Jerry Sandusky, a former assistant football coach, was abusing a boy in a team shower.

The judge said Spanier, 70, should not have been charged for 2001 actions under revisions to the law enacted in 2007, and gave prosecutors three months to retry him. On Wednesday, state Attorney General Josh Shapiro said he would appeal.

Spanier "was personally advised that children were being sexually abused on school property. We proved that in court," Shapiro said.

Spanier's lawyers said there's no evidence Spanier was personally told children were being sexually abused.

The Sandusky scandal led Penn State to fire hall of fame coach Joe Paterno two months before he died, and has cost the school more than a quarter-billion dollars in settlements, fines, legal costs and other expenses.

Spanier was also forced out as president in November 2011, shortly after Sandusky's arrest, and was himself charged a year later with a criminal cover-up. In 2017, he was convicted of a single misdemeanor count of child endangerment.

Under a separation agreement, Spanier was able to collect a total of about $3.7 million in salary as a tenured professor through the fall of 2017. Since then, he has been paid a salary the school will not disclose.

Spanier actively lobbied to keep Penn State — a state-related university owned by its board but supported by millions in annual state subsidies — from being fully covered by the Pennsylvania Right-to-Know Law. Under changes enacted in 2008, Penn State and other state-related universities are only required to disclose salaries of their 25 highest-paid employees and some other financial data.

Anthony Lubrano, a former Penn State trustee critical of how the school's administration handled the Sandusky scandal, said Spanier deserves whatever the university has paid him.

"I think Spanier's payments over the last seven years, as far as Spanier's concerned, were very justified," Lubrano said. "His reputation has been irreparably harmed, and you don't get that back."

In a 2016 lawsuit against Penn State, Spanier's lawyers noted the 2011 separation agreement directed the school to pay all attorneys' fees and expenses related to his termination as president and to the grand jury presentment used to charge Sandusky.

How much that has amounted to is unclear, although by 2013 the school said legal defense for "indemnified persons," including Spanier, former Athletic Director Tim Curley and former Vice President Gary Schultz, had already cost it $6 million. Curley and Schultz both pleaded guilty to child endangerment and served short jail terms.

Spanier is a tenured professor of human development and family studies, sociology, demography and family and community medicine. A university spokeswoman said Wednesday Spanier does not have assigned office space on campus or elsewhere.

A jury in 2012 found Sandusky guilty of abusing 10 boys over more than a decade, including convictions related to the still-unidentified boy in the shower. He is serving 30 to 60 years in a Pennsylvania state prison and was recently granted a new sentencing. Some of his victims were found to have been abused after the report of what happened in the shower.

 

[The Bobster]

https://philadelphia.cbslocal.com/2...e-resentenced-next-month-in-molestation-case/

Jerry Sandusky To Be Resentenced Next Month In Molestation Case
August 8, 2019 at 12:20 pm

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Jerry Sandusky will be taken from prison to a central Pennsylvania courtroom next month for resentencing on his 45-count child sexual abuse conviction, six months after a state appeals court ruled mandatory minimums had been improperly applied. Judge John Foradora filed an order Wednesday scheduling the proceeding for Sept. 23 in the Centre County Courthouse.

Foradora also directed the county sheriff to arrange for the 75-year-old former Penn State assistant football coach to be transported to the hearing from his cell in the State Correctional Institution at Laurel Highlands.

Sandusky had been sentenced to 30 to 60 years for child molestation.

The state Supreme Court last month declined to grant him a chance to argue he deserves a new trial.

Sandusky was convicted of the sexual abuse of 10 boys.

 

[The Bobster]

https://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/new...ry-Sandusky-Resentencing-Judge-562506821.html

Judge Chosen to Resentence Ex-Penn State Assistant Coach Jerry Sandusky in Child Sex Abuse Case
Jerry Sandusky is currently serving decades in prison for child molestation
Published Oct 8, 2019 at 6:30 AM

A new judge is in place to handle the child sexual abuse resentencing hearing for former Penn State assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky.

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court on Monday issued an order appointing Judge Maureen Skerda to take over the case.

The previous jurist, Judge John Foradora of Jefferson County, recused himself last month.

A prosecutor and Sandusky's defense lawyer agreed in a court document that Foradora needed to step aside because of what they called an action in August by the attorney general's office that was "separate, distinct and wholly unrelated" to the Sandusky case.

The 75-year-old Sandusky's serving a 45-count conviction, but an appeals court ruled in February that mandatory minimums had been improperly applied.

Skerda is a judge in Warren and Forest counties.

 

[The Bobster]

https://philadelphia.cbslocal.com/2...ual-abuse-allegations-against-jerry-sandusky/

Penn State Investigates New Sexual Abuse Allegations Against Jerry Sandusky
November 1, 2019 at 7:21 pm

(CNN) — Penn State University is investigating a new allegation of abuse by convicted child molester and former assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky, a university spokesperson told CNN Thursday. Wyatt DuBois said an incident report was filed on Tuesday with the University Police describing a visitor being “sexually assaulted by a known person at a University building” between June 2000 and September 2010.

The report lists two counts of rape and two other counts of “sex offenses.” The location was listed as the Lasch Football Building. No other details were provided.

“This incident report is the result of the University’s internal and external reporting procedures upon receipt of a new allegation of abuse by Jerry Sandusky,” DuBois said in a statement. “An investigation is ongoing and we have no further comment.”

The Office of the Attorney General of Pennsylvania said it “can’t confirm or deny the existence of an investigation” into Sandusky.

Sandusky’s attorney, Al Lindsay, said in a phone call with CNN that he and his client are “trying to find out what they’re investigating.”

When asked if Sandusky, now 75, knew what the allegations were about, Lindsay said, “Absolutely not. I had an opportunity to speak with Mr. Sandusky earlier and he denies that anything happened.”

Resentencing scheduled for Nov. 8

In 2012, Sandusky was convicted of sexually abusing 10 boys over a period of at least 15 years, and was sentenced to at least 30 years in prison.

The Pennsylvania Superior Court denied his request for a new trial in February and ordered Sandusky be resentenced. The resentencing is scheduled for November 8 at the Centre County Courthouse.

The Superior Court ruled it was illegal to impose mandatory minimum sentences during the sentencing and ordered Sandusky to be re-sentenced “without application of any unlawful mandatory minimum sentences.”

Lindsay said “the sentence he received was too significant, and the circumstances have changed.” Lindsay said he doesn’t see how the new allegations could impact the resentencing since, he said, “there’s not much substance to it.”

Lindsay says neither he nor his client have been contacted by officials.

 

[The Bobster]

https://philadelphia.cbslocal.com/2...ex-abuse-conviction-set-to-take-place-friday/

Jerry Sandusky’s Resentencing On 45-Count Child Sex Abuse Conviction Set To Take Place Friday
By CBS3 Staff
November 21, 2019 at 6:46 pm

BELLEFONTE, Pa. (CBS) — — Former Penn State assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky’s resentencing on a 45-count child sexual abuse conviction will be held on Friday. This comes two weeks after judge Maureen Skerda pushed the hearing back.

Skerda acted after Sandusky’s defense lawyer and prosecutors filed a joint request. They said they need a little more time to prepare for argument about Sandusky’s designation as a sexually violent predator, among other things.

Sandusky was convicted and sentenced in 2012 to 30 to 60 years, but the state Superior Court determined in February that mandatory minimum sentences had been misapplied after this 2012 trial, so new sentencing was needed.

It’s not clear whether Sandusky’s sentence will change significantly.

 

[The Bobster]

https://philadelphia.cbslocal.com/2...in-prison-in-penn-state-child-sex-abuse-case/

Jerry Sandusky Resentenced To 30 To 60 Years In Prison In Penn State Child Sex Abuse Case
November 22, 2019 at 5:15 pm

PHILADELPHIA (CBS/AP) — Former Penn State assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky has been resentenced to 30 to 60 years in prison in a child sex abuse case that rocked the university. He was given the same penalty as before for sexually abusing children.

Sandusky, 75, was sentenced by Judge Maureen Skerda at the Centre County Courthouse in Bellefonte. He wore a yellow jumpsuit and entered court with his hands cuffed in front of him.

Sandusky again asserted his innocence, choked up twice in brief remarks to the judge and told his supporters he loves them. ity:

A state appeals court this year turned down most of Sandusky’s arguments seeking a new trial but said laws mandating sentence minimums in place at the time of his October 2012 sentencing had since changed.

Under the new law, according to Jacklin Rhoads, a spokeswoman for Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro, a jury would not have the power to go below the minimum sentence.

The Superior Court opinion in February cited a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that said any fact that increases the sentence for a given crime must be submitted to jurors and established beyond a reasonable doubt.

Sandusky was convicted of 45 counts of child sexual abuse in 2012 and sentenced to 30 to 60 years. Skerda’s new sentence was the same.

“Today with Jerry Sandusky’s resentencing, justice was again achieved for his victims and they can close this chapter knowing that this predator will remain behind bars for the rest of his life,” Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro said in a statement.

Eight young men testified during the 2012 trial that Sandusky, who founded a charity for at-risk youth, subjected them to a range of abuse, from grooming to violent attacks.

Sandusky has maintained his innocence, and his lawyers in October initiated a federal court action seeking a new trial or release from prison.

His November 2011 arrest prompted the firing of Hall of Fame head coach Joe Paterno and the ousting of then-university President Graham Spanier.

The university has subsequently paid more than $100 million to people who said they had been abused by Sandusky.

 

[The Bobster]

https://philadelphia.cbslocal.com/2...anduskys-latest-request-for-shorter-sentence/

Judge Rejects Jerry Sandusky’s Latest Request For Shorter Sentence
January 28, 2020 at 3:52 pm

BELLEFONTE, Pa. (AP) — A judge flatly rejected Jerry Sandusky‘s latest request to have his 30- to 60-year child molestation sentence reduced during a brief hearing Tuesday. Judge Maureen Skerda said she purposely fashioned the prison term to have an impact on the former Penn State assistant football coach and noted Sandusky continues to maintain his innocence.

“This is repeated conduct over a course of years, and the court considered that,” Skerda said. Sandusky was convicted in 2012 of sexual abuse of 10 boys, ranging from grooming to sexual attacks.

Sandusky, 76, participated by phone from the State Correctional Institution-Laurel Highlands but said very little.

His defense attorney, Robert Buttner, argued that grievances and misconduct that Sandusky has been involved in while in prison were relatively minor.

During the November resentencing hearing, the attorney general’s office described problems that included disputes about returning a meal tray, resistance to being moved from his cell and complaints about phone calls.

Buttner told Skerda that she should consider his age and that older defendants are far less likely to commit new crimes.

But Skerda recalled that during the November sentencing — ordered by a state appeals court — Sandusky said he has spoken on the phone to his wife while an acquaintance was visiting Dottie Sandusky with an infant.

“So he would still have access to children if he were in the public in the future,” Skerda said. In November, she gave him the same sentence he had received following his 2012 jury trial.

Jennifer Buck, a prosecutor with the state attorney general’s office, urged Skerda to keep the sentence in place, noting that it fell within sentencing guidelines. She said the core offenses for which he was convicted were first-degree felonies.

“There’s no more serious crime than a felony of the first degree,” Buck told the judge.

After the hearing, Dottie Sandusky said she remains convinced her husband was unjustly convicted.

“He is not guilty, and it just will go on and on and on,” Dottie Sandusky said. “I believe in Jerry, and there’s a lot to be said about what has gone on, and someday the truth will come out.”

Sandusky’s lawyers said he has a month to decide whether to appeal Skerda’s decision not to change his sentence. They also plan to pursue legal action in federal courts.

Sandusky’s arrest in 2011 led days later to the firing of Hall of Fame head coach Joe Paterno, and the university subsequently paid more than $100 million to people who said they had been abused by Sandusky.

In a filing early last month, Sandusky’s defense lawyers argued there were multiple factors that should result in a shorter prison term, including their client’s background, upbringing and positive impact on others. They said the total sentence was “manifestly excessive.”