Former president of Penn State, Graham Spanier, has asked a judge to throw out his conviction on charges that he endangered a child in connection with the Jerry Sandusky child sex-abuse case.
A jury found Spanier guilty of endangering a child because he failed to act on a report he received in 2001 that stated Sandusky, former PSU assistant football coach, was seen showering with a boy in a university locker room.
According to a report from Law360, Spanier filed a post-trial motion arguing that his failure to report the incident amounted to a “course of conduct that extended the statute of limitations.”
“The jury found that Dr. Spanier had not committed endangering the welfare of children through a course of conduct,” argued Spanier’s lawyers in the motion. “The jury thus rejected the only argument the commonwealth has ever made that its prosecution of Dr. Spanier on [the child endangerment count] is not time-barred.”
Spanier is also arguing that the prosecution did not prove beyond a reasonable doubt that he had an obligation under law to those minor children whose welfare he allegedly endangered.
Spanier’s motion comes nine days after he was sentenced to up to 2 months in jail and up to 10 months on house arrest. He also received a $7,500 fine and is required to do 200 hours of community service.
The Sandusky case recently ensnared a number of personnel associated with the PSU athletic department. In March, the former PSU athletic director, Tim Curly and vice president Gary Shultz both plead guilty to misdemeanor charges of child endangerment.
Law360 reported that this was not the first the court had heard about the statute of limitations surrounding the charges against Spanier, Schultz and Curley. The three raised the issue ahead of their trials but the request to consider the issue was thrown out.
