Ex-PSU Lawyer Outlines Alleged Spanier Lies

Former Penn State general counsel Cynthia Baldwin said in grand jury testimony released Wednesday that the university's then-president made a series of lies and misleading statements before and after Jerry Sandusky was arrested.
 
The documents include testimony from a year ago in which Baldwin directly contradicted a statement made by Graham Spanier to a reporter that the first he knew the investigation involved allegations of sexual abuse against Sandusky was when the former assistant football coach was charged in November 2011.
 
Baldwin told the grand jury that "of course he knew,'' and she believed "that he is not a person of integrity.''
 
Spanier lawyer Liz Ainslie said the documents do not amount to evidence against him.

"A criminal charge cannot under the law be brought against an individual without evidence," Ainslie said. "What I have read is not evidence, it's conclusions that were fed to Cynthia Baldwin by the prosecutor."
 
The records also indicate Baldwin told the grand jury judge she represented the university when Spanier testified before the grand jury in April 2011, but did not contradict Spanier when he soon after identified her as his lawyer.
 
Questions about who she represented when Spanier and two other defendants appeared before the grand jury have delayed their trial on charges they covered up complaints about Sandusky.
 
Court officials said Wednesday that additional documents the presiding judge has unsealed would be posted online in the coming days, perhaps as early as Thursday.
 
Spanier, former athletic director Tim Curley and former vice president Gary Schultz face charges of perjury, obstruction, conspiracy, child endangerment and failure to properly report suspected child abuse.
 
Dauphin County Judge Todd Hoover on Tuesday directed their lawyers and prosecutors to submit proposed findings of fact and legal conclusions ahead of a hearing for them to argue the issues related to their grand jury appearances and whether Baldwin's actions have violated their right to legal counsel.
 
The documents show the grand jury judge, Barry Feudale, pressed Baldwin about who she represented when Spanier testified in April 2011.
 
"The university," Baldwin replied. "The university solely?" the judge asked. "Yes, I represent the university solely," she said.
 
But a short time later, after Spanier was sworn in, Spanier identified Baldwin, sitting behind him, as his lawyer. At one point Baldwin interrupted the prosecutor to make a suggestion about his line of questioning.
 
Ainslie said Feudale and the prosecutor should have spoken up.
 
"It shows that (Spanier) was deceived about the appearance in the grand jury, and on the basis of that appearance in the grand jury, he's been charged with perjury," Ainslie said. "And the principle witness against him apparently is the woman who allowed him to believe she was acting in his best interests."
 
Spanier testified repeatedly that he was never told about a 1998 incident in which a mother complained to police after her son returned with wet hair after an outing with Sandusky.
 
"I certainly did not have anything brought to my attention," Spanier told the grand jury.
 
Baldwin said Spanier told the trustees his own grand jury testimony was secret but Feudale had told him that he could disclose it, Baldwin testified.
 
She contradicted a statement Spanier made to the board of trustees that Baldwin turned over a thumb drive to prosecutors including all his emails after 2004.
 
The documents also show state prosecutor Frank Fina telling Feudale that investigators "were told there was a 1984 allegation" they were looking into regarding Sandusky and "contact with (a) minor." Fina said there was no paperwork regarding the 1984 allegation, and the topic was not raised again.
 
Sandusky was not charged with anything dating back to 1984, but was convicted last year of 45 criminal counts for sexual abuse of 10 boys. He is seeking state Supreme Court review of his conviction.
 
Baldwin's lawyer Charles De Monaco told Feudale in October 2012, as she prepared to testify before the grand jury, that she represented Penn State and the administrators "so long as their interests were aligned with the university."
 
On the stand, Baldwin said she pressed Spanier, Curley and Schultz for any Sandusky-related materials as the state investigation ramped up in early 2011, and all three said they had nothing. The university later found email traffic from 1998 among the three discussing that complaint, and investigators eventually recovered a file of Schultz's about the Sandusky complaints.

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