The hearing for the former President of Penn State is set to continue. The former president is being charged with felony and child endangerment. At the beginning of Graham Spanier’s trial, the prosecutors stated how the actions of the ex-President in failing to report accusations of child molestation on Jerry Sandusky to the authorities allowed “evil to run wild.” In response to this statement, the defendant’s attorney accused the prosecutors of attempting to “criminalize a judgment call.”
The long-delayed criminal trial resumed in court with statements recapping how Graham had failed to address the grievances of a boy in his school who said that the football team’s coach had abused him in the shower. Jerry Sandusky, the accused assistant coach, was convicted in 2012 and is currently facing decades in prison.
Former Vice President of Penn State Gary Schulz and his counterpart former athletic director Tim Curley accepted agreements to plead at the court in the former president’s case. The two will testify during court hearings and are expected to be joined by one of Sandusky’s victims.
During the hearing, Deputy Attorney General Patrick Schulte informed the jury that Spanier and other members of Penn State’s administration had agreed not to report Sandusky’s abusive behavior to law enforcement. As such, they exposed numerous children to the looming threat of the former assistant coach. He said that these actions caused “evil in the form of Jerry Sandusky was allowed to run wild.”
Spanier’s defense attorney partly accepted the prosecutors’ accusations. However, he categorically stated that Spanier together with other members of his administration responded to the victims’ reports. However, their response was not exactly as conventional as the society would expect. Explaining this point to the jurors, he said, “They made a decision they believed was appropriate under the circumstances.”
In addition to these statements, Schulte told the court about another Sandusky incident in 1998. In this particular occurrence, a mother reported the fact that the former assistant coach had been showering with her son to Spanier. In Schulte’s statement, he elaborated that the reason why the former president was informed of the situation was that it was part of his responsibility to know about the behavioral tendencies of his employees, especially when this information might be regarded as alarming. In that particular case, authorities conducted an investigation, and no charges ended up being filed.
A separate incident of Sandusky showering with a boy was reported by Graduate Assistant Mike McQueary. On this occasion, however, Schultz, Spanier, and Curley decided to approach Sandusky and bar him from bringing any children onto campus grounds. Despite the report, they chose not to report the case to the police, although they collectively said they would report him if he did not seek assistance for his behavior.
As he concluded, Schulte said, “Gary Schultz is going to tell you that he is very regretful of the decision to not be firmer in insisting.”
Spanier, currently 68 years old, was removed from office following the conviction of Sandusky. Testimonies from Schultz and Curley have landed them a single charge of child endangerment. They are currently awaiting sentencing from the court. The former president, on the other hand, continues to maintain his innocence and says that the reports that reached him concerning Sandusky’s shower incidents simply came out as horseplay rather than severe abuse.
Jurors are yet to make a decision on this case, as court hearings proceed.
