Penn State Sandusky Trial #11 (Verdict - GUILTY!)

[Rlaub44]

I agree with post, except for this detail. In 2001, Corbett was neither Attorney General (AG) nor was he on the Board of Trustees.

Corbett was appointed AG in 1995, replacing Preate, who resigned after conviction. Corbett left office in January of 1997. He had no role in prosecuting cases after that and did, in fact, serve a defense attorney in private practice. He was appointed head of the "Commission of Crime and Delinquency," which awards federal funds to the criminal justice programs, including public defenders. I think they have two meetings per year and it is uncompensated.

He was elected in 2004, to his first term and sworn in January of 2005. He was reelected in 2008.

In 2010, he ran for Governor and was elected. He resigned as AG (as required by the PA constitution) in January 2011 and was sworn in as governor. As governor, he became a member ex officio ("by virtue of the [other] office held") of the Board of Trustees of Penn State.

Corbett was not the AG in 1998, nor in 2001, nor was he on the Board of Trustees prior to 1/2011.

The case was referred to the AG's Office in February of 2009.

Most of that is here: Tom Corbett - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Thanks JJ - I was referring to Corbett's remarks to the media after Paterno's firing, where he continued to drag Paterno's name through the mud while ignoring Spanier, Schultz and Curley, despite Paterno being the only one of those names who was absolved by the current AG from legal culpability.

 

[Gardenlady]

Figurehead or not, Paterno had the power to pick up the telephone and call authorities outside the institution. He chose not to. "Protocol" be damned, you get knowledge that someone might be raping a child you report it to police.

 

[LEFT-COASTER]

In case you have not seen this.. it is an interview with the juror that got sick and had to be replaced #6

http://www.wjactv.com/news/news/dismissed-juror-tells-6news-sandusky-admired-victi/nPc5m/

I found this interesting as I did wonder if the jury had noticed this..

“You could feel the emotion. There was no doubt about it, that they were telling the truth,” said Allie. “That was the big thing that I noticed. I thought that was a big red flag. That (Sandusky) was kind of admiring them, like they were his lovers.”

 

[borndem]

I am just catching up (as usual), but wanted to tell you that I feel exactly the same way. Hell, I would have done something about it even if I only thought they were just showering together and nothing else!

MM saw more than just showering, IMO, and knew enough he should have done more. I had wondered from the first time I had ever heard of MM if maybe he had already known the kind of guy GS is, or at least suspected. He should have manned up right then and there and helped that young boy.

At least MM did testify. That is all I can give him, though.

MOO's

I just googled "child abuse" and one of the first-page posts referred to child sexual abuse. I read on a bit and came across Childhelp.org. There is a number there that will let the caller be anonymous, etc., etc., etc. It has been around since 1959.

This took about 3 minutes...:maddening:

No excuses, dammit, no excuses.

http://www.childhelp.org/pages/about

 

[costalpilot]

No he wasn't. He could not institute a police investigation any more than Schultz could order plays on the football field.

That is not say that Paterno couldn't have done some follow up, and put pressure on Schultz or Spanier to do more. I wish he was more decisive and had pressured them to investigate.

You want to give Paterno godlike powers, not only over the football program, but the university and Centre County government. A powerful figure, who was powerful because he raised money for the university, yes. In absolute control beyond the football program, no.

guess we'll just have to disagree but i'd just say if the president goes to a guys house to fire him and gets shown the door without getting the guy fired, the guy is clearly in charge.

seems pretty clear to some.

 

[J. J. in Phila]

I appreciate the use of your term "figurehead" as I think it is an apt description of the true state of Paterno's actual power, versus the perceived power that has been attributed to him.

I wouldn't use the word "figurehead." He had power within the university, because he could raise money. He wasn't "Jopa the First, King of Penn State, and Emperor of Centre County," either as a supreme monarch or as an elderly man with a crown who'd wave at the crowd and wait for his prime minister (Spanier) to tell him what to do.

The idea that he could have suddenly ordered Spanier to remove Sandusky from campus or ordered him to do some investigation, or prevented an investigation is just impossible. It is even more telling when you consider that it was District Attorney's Office that handled the 1998 incident.

 

[costalpilot]

In case you have not seen this.. it is an interview with the juror that got sick and had to be replaced #6

http://www.wjactv.com/news/news/dismissed-juror-tells-6news-sandusky-admired-victi/nPc5m/

I found this interesting as I did wonder if the jury had noticed this..

interesting..i'm glad they took their time. interesting that Jer acted so inappropriately, and that he telegraphed the big message

GUILTY

course dottie never caught on somehow....really dottie? a stranger knows your husband after watching him in court (where his LIFE is at risk) for a few days and you havent a clue, year after year, boy after boy. really dottie?

she should be prosecuted, imo.

 

[bayouland]

I am quoting your entire message below. I just want to make my feelings regarding Paterno clear, and why messages like yours infuriate me.
Whether or not Paterno knew or didn't know that Sandusky continued his crimes, or whether Paterno did or did not know that it had "been taken care of" is truly, truly, besides the point.
The point is, a figurehead, as was Paterno, cannot just trust that things have been taken care of. He can not curry the image of a moral leader by "following protocol" and trusting that "things were taken care of". As a moral leader (and a self proclaimed one at that), he had every responsibility to make certain that things WERE taken care of. But beyond that, where the heck was his moral indignation, the kind of disgust and anger that leads a leader to SPEAK out, to speak out loudly, to LEAD? I am sorry but there is no evidence that he did anything but bury his cowardly oversized head in the sand and hope it would all just go away.

Question, in additon to the moral responsibility, wasn't Paterno a mandatory reporter as defined in PA law?

 

[Rlaub44]

Figurehead or not, Paterno had the power to pick up the telephone and call authorities outside the institution. He chose not to. "Protocol" be damned, you get knowledge that someone might be raping a child you report it to police.

As far as what he "chose" to do, I simply think that he didn't realize he had to, because he had reported it and was assured it was taken care of.

I guess I can see the second point about protocol differently because in my last occupation, I was a mandated reporter in PA, and my employer had the same policy (as written in PA CPS Act) that reports were to be made to the head of the institution or his assigned designee. To handle it otherwise would never have occurred to us, because we had no reason to believe the professionals wouldn't do their job.

 

[bayouland]

interesting..i'm glad they took their time. interesting that Jer acted so inappropriately, and that he telegraphed the big message

GUILTY

course dottie never caught on somehow....really dottie? a stranger knows your husband after watching him in court (where his LIFE is at risk) for a few days and you havent a clue, year after year, biy after boy. really dottie?

she should be prosecuted, imo.

Dottie can pretend all she wants......her close friends will pretend that they believe her....they won't.

No one will.

Let's see what MS has to say.

 

[Rlaub44]

Question, in additon to the moral responsibility, wasn't Paterno a mandatory reporter as defined in PA law?

He would not have met the requirement at the time, because the law stated that if that person had "reason to suspect that a child coming before him in his official capacity" (paraphrased from memory of the statute) were abused ... but Paterno had not interacted with the child and so would not have been mandated to report.

Even if he had met the child, he would have fulfilled the Mandated Reporter responsibilities by notifying the head of the institution or his assigned designee.

 

[bayouland]

He would not have met the requirement at the time, because the law stated that if that person had "reason to suspect that a child coming before him in his official capacity" (paraphrased from memory of the statute) were abused ... but Paterno had not interacted with the child and so would not have been mandated to report.

Even if he had met the child, he would have fulfilled the Mandated Reporter responsibilities by notifying the head of the institution or his assigned designee.

Thanks for clarifying that....

 

[BigCat]

I wouldn't use the word "figurehead." He had power within the university, because he could raise money. He wasn't "Jopa the First, King of Penn State, and Emperor of Centre County," either as a supreme monarch or as an elderly man with a crown who'd wave at the crowd and wait for his prime minister (Spanier) to tell him what to do.

The idea that he could have suddenly ordered Spanier to remove Sandusky from campus or ordered him to do some investigation, or prevented an investigation is just impossible. It is even more telling when you consider that it was District Attorney's Office that handled the 1998 incident.

This misses the point. It was all about protecting the legacy of JoePa. It was then, it is now, even with a fair-minded, reasonable Penn State alum as yourself. It's a reflex, almost.

 

[costalpilot]

Question, in additon to the moral responsibility, wasn't Paterno a mandatory reporter as defined in PA law?

absolutely he was. wonder if by reporting it to shultz fullfilled that obligation or not? course even if it did, by not insisting it be followed up on he cost himself his reputation, and got himself fired and disgraced in his lifetime.

pretty big mistake. if you buy what they are selling, which is that he was the honorable, moral man he was portrayed to be all those years and that this was simply one mistake he made....wow thats makes him a really unlucky guy.

or was it karma?

 

[StellarsJay]

I'm still perlexed by the lack of victims prior to 92, when Sandusky was 58. We assume there more, but, as of yet, none have come forward..

A day or two ago someone (Black Cat?) pointed out that Jerry might have kept himself in check until his father, whom he seems to have revered, died.

Second Mile started in 1977, Sandusky was 33.

Matt Sandusky entered Second Mile in 1986 at age 7. His mother says Sandusky got involved with their family in in 1989.
Sandusky was 45.
http://news.google.com/newspapers?n...=ZIJeAAAAIBAJ&sjid=_mENAAAAIBAJ&pg=1492,84462

1996: Matt has been in the Sandusky home as a foster kid since January 1995.He is 17 in 1996.
September 1996: Jerry's father died, age 76.
From timeline: October 1996: Starts intimate contact with Victim 4 which continues to December 2000: Sandusky becomes close with a 12-year-old identified in the grand jury report as Victim 4, who is in his second year of the Second Mile program.

Dad died, Jerry attacks Vic 4- "stops keeping it in the family" comes to mind.
What was his father's role?

At the trial, Matt first left to be secluded with Dottie but he came back in to hear Victim 4, had brief eye contact with him, and did not come back into court after that testimony.

 

[Rlaub44]

A day or two ago someone (Black Cat?) pointed out that Jerry might have kept himself in check until his father, whom he seems to have revered, died.

Second Mile started in 1977, Sandusky was 33.

Matt Sandusky entered Second Mile in 1986 at age 7. His mother says Sandusky got involved with their family in in 1989.
Sandusky was 45.

1996: Matt has been in the Sandusky home as a foster kid since January 1995.He is 17 in 1966.
September 1996: Jerry's father died, age 76.
From timeline: October 1996: Starts intimate contact with Victim 4 which continues to December 2000: Sandusky becomes close with a 12-year-old identified in the grand jury report as Victim 4, who is in his second year of the Second Mile program.

Dad died, Jerry attacks Vic 4- "stops keeping it in the family" comes to mind.
What was his father's role?

At the trial, Matt first left to be secluded with Dottie but he came back in to hear Victim 4, had brief eye contact with him, and did not come back into court after that testimony.

That is a very good point. The other thing that often occurs with predators is a progression, from the thought to fantasy, from fantasy to small acts, such as the hand-on-knee trick. Once he had done that a few times and gotten away with it, his actions became bolder and bolder until he moved to the horrible acts we read about.

 

[Madeleine74]

Part of the issue with Paterno is a multi-generational gap. This is not an excuse at all, but men in their 70's and 80's are often ignorant about understanding sexual abuse and then realizing it must be reported to police immediately. Again, this does not excuse Paterno, nor his chain of command AT.ALL. He should have known how seriously bad this was.

 

[CJMAJORGIRL24]

I would like to think this mess was just a "perfect storm", as it were. For this to go on for decades (I truly believe Jerry has been raping boys since his teens), Jerry had to be very smart (setting up his own "victim factory"), and very lucky (JoePa, Curley, Schultz, Mcqueary et al being such cowards they wouldn't go to the authorities). It was just pure, dumb luck this went on for so long. I could probably throw a beer can out my window, and hit someone who would have been more proactive than any of them.
Just like the Catholic Church sex abuse scandal, this situation underscores how dangerous it it is to just trust that men in positions of authority will do the right thing. There HAS to be accoutability, thats why I hope Curley and Schultz loose thier pensions, and get some prison time. Just to send a message to every last teacher, coach, camp counselor, doctor, nurse, clergyman, ect that silence will not be tolerated.
JMO

Not only was he protected by JoePA, Curley, Shultz -he also got the pass from local LE in 1998. This is so much bigger than just one monster. I don't know what to believe anymore.

So many people that I have respected...now I wonder about them, and if I ever really "knew" them at all.

 

[Trident]

As far as what he "chose" to do, I simply think that he didn't realize he had to, because he had reported it and was assured it was taken care of.

I guess I can see the second point about protocol differently because in my last occupation, I was a mandated reporter in PA, and my employer had the same policy (as written in PA CPS Act) that reports were to be made to the head of the institution or his assigned designee. To handle it otherwise would never have occurred to us, because we had no reason to believe the professionals wouldn't do their job.

Really?

 

[Anita Richman]

All these fantasies about JS being sexually attacked in prison... Not gonna happen. First of all, he'll be kept secluded. Second, even if he wasn't, do you really think some prison dude is going to want to have sex with a 68 yr old man if there are much younger options available? And, we know there are plenty of 20 and 30-something year old men in prison. Such fiction.

Madeleine, not that I'm engaging in any rape fantasies about Jerry Sandusky, but I had to correct this. Plenty of elderly men and women are raped. Not just attractive young people (and children). Rape is about power and domination. I can easily imagine an angry man who had been victimized as a child taking it out on J.S. in prison.

Consensual sex is a different animal and I agree that inmates looking for that would probably seek out younger partners.:jail: