As Penn State case heads toward trial, records still sealed
In a filing to a judge last week, state prosecutors argued that they should be allowed to proceed with a trial for Graham B. Spanier, the former Pennsylvania State University president accused of child endangerment in the Jerry Sandusky sex-abuse scandal.
In a filing to a judge last week, state prosecutors argued that they should be allowed to proceed with a trial for Graham B. Spanier, the former Pennsylvania State University president accused of child endangerment in the Jerry Sandusky sex-abuse scandal.
Days later, Spanier's lawyers countered that the memo did nothing more than "sling mud" through "page after page of unproven, sensational allegations."
But identifying that so-called mud, or even the crux of the Attorney General's Office's argument, isn't possible.
That's because prosecutors filed their response under seal - making it inaccessible to the public - even though the defense motion to dismiss the case was not sealed.
Jeffrey A. Johnson, a spokesman for the Attorney General's Office, said the office filed the document under seal "in accordance with an earlier sealing order" by a previous judge in the case.
Prosecutors did the same when they answered dismissal arguments from Spanier's codefendants, former Penn State administrators Gary Schultz and Tim Curley.
Several news outlets - including the Harrisburg Patriot-News, the Associated Press, and the Legal Intelligencer - have been unsuccessful in attempting to have earlier filings in the case unsealed.
"It's a very rare circumstance where records filed in a public criminal trial should be sealed," said Craig Staudenmaier, the lawyer who filed a motion to have records in the case unsealed in June 2014 on behalf of the Patriot-News.
Court records don't specify the reason for sealing such court filings, which typically are accessible. One person familiar with the case - who was not authorized to publicly discuss it - said it was because some early filings in the case cited confidential grand-jury material.
Still, Staudenmaier said the fact that the defendants' motion to have the case dismissed was not filed under seal further weakens any argument to keep the other records sealed.
Schultz and Curley were charged in November 2011 with perjury and conspiracy to cover up Sandusky's abuse of boys. Spanier was charged a year later. All three men resigned, retired, or were forced out in the wake of the allegations. Sandusky, a former assistant football coach, is serving a 30- to 60-year sentence after being convicted of sexually abusing 10 children. He is appealing the verdict.
Pennsylvania's Superior Court in January threw out the most serious charges against Spanier, Curley, and Schultz. They included obstruction, conspiracy, and perjury charges against Spanier and Schultz, and obstruction and conspiracy charges against Curley.
Still pending are charges of child endangerment and failure to report suspected child abuse.
Last month, retired Berks County Judge John Boccabella was assigned to take over the case.
In their one-page response, Spanier's lawyers said claims in the attorney general's filing were "a clear attempt to bias the court" against Spanier, and "entirely irrelevant to the legal issues presented."
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