Former Penn State president is convicted on one charge in Sandusky case
Former Penn State University president Graham Spanier in 2010. Richard Paul Kane / Shutterstock.com
Former Penn State University president Graham Spanier was convicted Friday of misdemeanor child endangerment but acquitted of two other charges in connection with the Jerry Sandusky child molestation scandal.
Spanier was convicted on the single misdemeanor child endangerment charge based on allegations that he failed to respond appropriately to a report in 2001 that Sandusky, an assistant football coach, was observed naked with a boy in an incident in the locker room. He was acquitted on a separate charge of child endangerment and a conspiracy charge, report Pennlive.com, Inside Higher Ed, the Washington Post and Philly.com.
After the 2001 incident, Spanier and other Penn State officials had developed a plan to bar Sandusky from bringing other children to the campus and to inform officials at Sandusky’s charity for at-risk children. As a result of Spanier’s lack of action, prosecutors had alleged, Sandusky went on to sexually assault at least three more boys.
Prosecutors said Spanier should have responded differently, given a 1998 report that Sandusky had given a youth a bear hug in the shower. Police had investigated the earlier report but concluded there was no crime.
Spanier’s lawyer had argued he didn’t realize Sandusky’s interaction with the boy was sexual in nature. And Spanier had previously said he didn’t know about the 1998 incident, though he had been copied on emails about it, according to the Washington Post.
