Respectfully snipped.
In 1998, there likely wasn't much evidence, so Ray probably made the correct decision. Even when charges were filed, it was a fairly run-of-the mill molestation case. The media only ran with it because Paterno and and a couple of the college administrators knew about the accusations but failed to act.
RFG had a second victim in 1998, that the PA AG did not have in 2001. They had a weaker case on the Victim 6 case in 2011 than RFG did in 1998. The AG still got a felony conviction on it. There was also no effort to turn the case over to the AG's Office for lack of resources, which could have been legitimately done.
I am generally not critical of RFG functions as DA, but in this case, I am. However, in saying this, I am critical of a number of Pennsylvania DA's/ADA's as well for the same reason. This might have been the first time turning a blind eye became public, but it would
not be the last. (I have known some of these people personally, and am quite saddened by it.)
All that said, prosecutors have discretion in prosecuting. I do not believe RFG did anything illegal or in violation of the canon of legal ethics in declining to prosecute Sandusky in 1998. I disagree with his decision, but I do not find it illegal or unethical.
There is no chance that the Sandusky case had anything to do with Ray's disappearance; that idea is silly. If Ray's disappearance was the result of foul play, and if it was connected to his job in any way, I would look at people he had prosecuted successfully who were back on the streets or people he was in the process of prosecuting (if there were any of the latter, considering that he was retiring).
I agree that this was unlikely a motive for murder; there is no reason to kill a prosecutor who won't prosecute you.
It
could be
part of a reason to leave voluntarily. There is no shortage of motives for voluntarily leaving. One of them could be that he didn't want to spend his retirement answering questions about why he did or didn't do something decades ago, both in the press and before grand juries. Sandusky
could be an example, but there could be dozens of those cases over a long career. There are possibly a half dozen other reasons as well.