Prosecutors seek to restore Penn State officials’ charges

HARRISBURG, Pa. – Prosecutors said Friday they were asking a Pennsylvania appeals court to reconsider its dismissal of some criminal charges against three former Penn State administrators accused of covering up sex abuse complaints against former assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky.

The attorney general’s office said it was making a sealed filing to ask the full Superior Court to overturn last month’s decision throwing out several of the more serious allegations against Graham Spanier, Gary Schultz and Tim Curley.

A three-judge panel ruled that grand jury testimony by Cynthia Baldwin, then the university’s general counsel, violated the three men’s right to legal representation.

That ruling dismissed charges of perjury, obstruction and conspiracy, but left in place charges of failure to report suspected child abuse and endangering the welfare of children, as well as a perjury count against Curley.

Prosecutors want the full court to uphold a decision by a county judge in Harrisburg that Baldwin’s actions were not improper, a ruling that had seemed to clear the way for trial after several years of legal disputes. Schultz and Curley were first charged with Sandusky more than four years ago, and Spanier was charged in late 2012.

Spanier is the school’s former president and remains a tenured faculty member. Schultz was a vice-president and Curley the athletic director — both men are now retired. All three men have vigorously disputed the allegations.

Sandusky, who spent decades as a defensive coach at Penn State under Joe Paterno, was convicted in 2012 of 45 counts of child sexual abuse and is serving a 30- to 60-year prison sentence. He maintains his innocence and is pursuing an appeal.

Spanier’s lawyer declined comment. Attorneys for Curley and Schultz didn’t return messages. Superior Court is an intermediate appellate court, and its decisions can be appealed to the state Supreme Court.