Topline
Former Pennsylvania State University President Graham Spanier’s criminal conviction stemming from the Jerry Sandusky child sex abuse case was reinstated by a federal court Tuesday, affirming Spanier’s guilt for misdemeanor child endangerment over his handling of a complaint he received in 2001 about Sandusky showering with a boy.
Former Penn State President Graham Spanier departs after his sentencing hearing at the Dauphin … [+]
Associated Press
Key Facts
The 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals judges reversed a 2019 decision from U.S. District Court which found the charge should be dropped because his due process rights were violated.
Spanier’s legal team argued that the due process violation was based in new statute of limitation rules that were retroactively applied to Spanier’s failure to report suspected child abuse to the state in 2001.
Yet the appeals court judges noted Tuesday in their 34-page decision that in 2007 the state amended the two-year statute of limitations for prosecution to include an exception for any sexual offense committed against a minor and included a provision that child endangerment charges can be made against anyone who, in their official capacity, prevents or interferes with the reporting of allegations of child sexual abuse.
State prosecutors filed a criminal complaint against Spanier in 2012 and, when the case went to trial in 2017, read the amended language to the jury, and he was convicted of the misdemeanor charge and sentenced to two months incarceration and two years of supervision.
The judges said Spanier’s due process rights could only be violated if his conviction was an “unexpected and indefensible” interpretation of the child endangerment law from before the amendment, which they said was not the case.
The decision means Spanier will need to serve his sentence to incarceration and probation.
Key Background
In February 2001, Spanier learned of allegations Sandusky had showered with a young boy in the football locker room, according to prosecutors. Despite an earlier allegation Sandusky did the same thing in 1998 and the university counsel’s recommendation to report the new complaint to the Department of Public Welfare, Spanier and the former Athletic Director Timothy Curley and former Senior Vice President Gary Schultz did not ultimately report it to the state, according to prosecutors. They chose to speak with Sandusky and the executive director of The Second Mile, a now-defunct charity Sandusky founded in 1977 to help underserved children. In an email, Spanier wrote: “The only downside for us is if the message isn’t heard and acted upon, and we then become vulnerable for not having reported it.” In 2012, a jury found Sandusky guilty of sexually abusing 10 boys and he was sentenced to 30 to 60 years in prison. The following year, Penn State said it settled with 26 people Sandusky allegedly abused and paid a total of nearly $60 million in settlements. In March 2017, Curley and Schultz pled guilty to a misdemeanor child endangerment charge and the felony charges against them were dropped. Spanier pled not guilty but was found guilty of the one misdemeanor count. The men were all sentenced to incarceration and supervision that June.
Crucial Quote
“No one is above the law, especially when it comes to the welfare of children. Today’s ruling to reinstate the conviction of Graham Spanier proves just that,” Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro said in a statement Tuesday. “Spanier turned a blind eye to child abuse by not reporting his knowledge of Jerry Sandusky’s assaults to law enforcement. Let it be known – if you hurt kids or cover up child abuse – my office will act and you will be held accountable.”
