Penn State Ex-Officials To Stand Trial
HARRISBURG (KDKA/AP) - Three former Penn State administrators have been ordered to stand trial in the Jerry Sandusky child sex abuse scandal.
A Pennsylvania district judge on Tuesday ruled that prosecutors had shown enough evidence to warrant a trial for ex-President Graham Spanier, former vice president Gary Schultz and ex-athletic director Tim Curley.
State prosecutors allege that the men failed to tell police about sexual abuse allegations involving Sandusky and then tried to cover up what they knew about it.
Judge William Wenner called it "a tragic day for Penn State University."
Tuesday morning's testimony focused on former university president Graham Spanier and exactly what he knew.
The university's public information officer, who was previously Spanier's speech writer, testified about the chaos that broke out on campus after the Grand Jury presentment came down.
Lisa Powers described Spanier as a demanding micromanager who was into details. He repeatedly and adamantly denied knowing about the Sandusky investigation.
When the charges came down against retired university vice president Schultz and ex-athletic director Curley, he was insistent on throwing his unconditional support behind them.
Prosecutors also introduced evidence of an e-mail exchange in response to an inquiry from the Patriot News in which Spanier said he would, "Clue (the public information officer) in with just as much as she needs to know to field media inquiries without exacerbating the situation."
The head of computer forensics for the Pa. Attorney General's Office testified Tuesday about unearthing e-mails that ended up as evidence in the case.
Braden Cook discussed the work it took to find the e-mails, which showed that university officials were aware of complaints about Sandusky in 1998 and 2001.
The three were charged with perjury, obstruction, endangering the welfare of children, failure to properly report suspected abuse and conspiracy. Those charges include allegations of hiding evidence from investigators and lying to the grand jury.
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