Ex-Penn State president loses criminal appeal for child endangerment
Former Penn State president Graham Spanier’s conviction on child endangerment has been upheld by a Pennsylvania Superior Court.
Spanier was convicted in March 2017 and sentenced to a maximum of 12 months due to his handling of reports of sexual assault by former Penn State football coach Jerry Sandusky.
Spanier, along with former athletic director Tim Curley and former vice president Gary Schultz, decided jointly to handle the reports internally instead of reporting them to police or child welfare authorities.
The prosecutors argued that by not reporting the accusations against Sandusky, other boys were at risk of abuse for an additional seven years before the reports became public.
“To hold that (he) was not supervising a child’s welfare when he oversaw PSU’s response to the Sandusky allegations, or to hold that he owed no duty of care in his exercise of that supervisory authority, would plainly not effectuate the purpose of sheltering children from harm,” wrote Judge Victor Stabile, joined by one other jurist in the 2-1 decision.
Pennsylvania’s Attorney General Josh Shapiro applauded the decision in a statement.
“We are gratified by the court’s decision affirming Graham Spanier’s conviction. We will continue to pursue anyone who looks the other way in the face of child sexual abuse,” Shapiro said.
Spanier now has a couple of options for appealing the decision. He can either appeal for reconsideration by the Superior Court or can take the case directly to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court of Appeals.
Spanier can also accept the decision of the court but his attorney indicated they will appeal.
“Dr. Spanier is deeply disappointed with the Superior Court’s ruling,” said attorney Bruce Merenstein.
“He has always maintained his innocence of the charges brought against him, and he intends to pursue his appellate options so that he ultimately will be vindicated.”
Spanier has been free on bail while appealing, so he has not served his sentence as of yet. He is due to serve two months in jail followed by four months on house arrest. He will then be on probation for two more years.
Despite his sentencing, Spanier is still a tenured faculty member of Penn State whose status is “on administrative leave.”
Sandusky was sentenced to 30 to 60 years in prison after being found guilty on 45 counts of sexual abuse.
In March 2017, the former coach was moved from a maximum-security prison to a medium-security prison about 100 miles southwest of Penn State’s campus.
Penn State will play its 125th season of football this year and its fifth under coach James Franklin. The team will be looking for its third straight AP Top 10 finish, which hasn’t been accomplished in school history since 1980-82.
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