A former Penn State vice president on Tuesday asked a judge to throw out charges that he lied to a grand jury investigating former football assistant coach Jerry Sandusky and that he did not properly report suspected child abuse.
Gary Schultz said his statements to a grand jury that the allegations were ``not that serious'' and that it wasn't clear a crime occurred are opinions that cannot be proved false.
``Perjury prosecutions rarely rest on expressions of opinion or belief,'' wrote Schultz defense lawyer Tom Farrell in court records first obtained by The Associated Press.
Schultz also joined a motion filed Monday by co-defendant Tim Curley that challenged the failure-to-report charge on the grounds the law was different in 2002. That was when Schultz and Curley, the university's athletics director, fielded a report about Sandusky being in the campus showers with a young boy.
Farrell also is asking prosecutors to more precisely identify which part of Schultz's grand jury testimony they allege constituted perjury.
Farrell argued that the ``defendant must not be left guessing as to which statements he is defending against nor as to basic information as to why such statements are false.'' Through a spokeswoman, Farrell declined to comment further.
A spokesman for the attorney general's office said Tuesday the agency had not received the filings but would review them when it had.
Sandusky, 68, has denied allegations he sexually abused 10 boys over a 15-year period. He faces 52 criminal counts and could go to trial in mid-May.
