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Spanier lawyers ask for remaining Sandusky charges to be dismissed

LAWYERS FOR three former Penn State administrators accused of failing to report Jerry Sandusky's sexual abuse of children filed motions last week asking that those charges be dismissed.

LAWYERS FOR three former Penn State administrators accused of failing to report Jerry Sandusky's sexual abuse of children filed motions last week asking that those charges be dismissed.

The Pennsylvania Superior Court in January threw out the most serious charges against former Penn State president Graham B. Spanier, Gary Schultz, and Tim Curley, who were accused of conspiring to cover up Sandusky's abuse.

But the men continue to face charges of child endangerment and failure to report suspected child abuse. Their lawyers argued in motions last week and made public Friday that the statute of limitations has expired on those crimes and that the mandatory reporting regulations don't apply to them. Spanier's lawyer wrote "as President of Penn State, he was not a person supervising the welfare of a child nor was he a required reporter."

The motion came on the same day that the Associated Press reported that retired Berks County Judge John Boccabella was assigned to handle the case that has languished for nearly five years and has roiled Pennsylvania's flagship university.

All three defendants drew contrasts between their cases and that of Msgr. William J. Lynn, whose high-profile conviction on child-endangerment charges in 2012 centered on questions of whether supervisors should be held accountable for abuse carried out by people working under them. Lynn, who served as secretary of clergy for the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, had been charged with reassigning priests accused of abuse.

"Unlike Lynn, Mr. Schultz had no specific training nor was he involved in investigations of allegations of child sexual abuse," Schultz's attorney wrote in the recent motion. "And, at the time of the 2001 allegation, Mr. Sandusky, unlike the priests answerable to Lynn, and whom Lynn disciplined (or not) and reassigned, was not subject to Mr. Schultz's supervision."

The men's lawyers also said that their clients were not among the officials required to report allegations of child abuse under the child-endangerment law, which was broadened about a decade ago.

Curley's lawyers argued that prosecutors investigating the case misled their client by informing him he was not a target prior to his testimony before a grand jury. Some of that testimony was used to build a case against him.

Lawyers for the men either declined comment or could not be reached.

Curley and Schultz initially were charged in 2011 when Sandusky was arrested. Spanier was charged a year later. The three men retired, resigned, or was forced out. Sandusky is serving a 30-to-60-year prison sentence after his conviction for sexually abusing 10 children.

Spanier's lawyers also argued that if the case proceeds, it should not be heard in Dauphin County or by a Dauphin County jury because of the publicity around the case.