Penn State defends firing of Joe Paterno

“We determined that his decision to do his minimum legal duty and not to
do more to follow up constituted a failure of leadership by Coach Paterno,”
the report said.

Sandusky, who faces 52 counts of sexual abuse, has maintained his innocence.

A hearing in his case was held on Monday in Centre County Court, Pennsylvania,
where Sandusky’s defence attorney pressed prosecutors to provide more
details from accusers in the case.

Sandusky did not attend, and attorneys said he is not expected to appear in
court until jury selection begins in his trial in mid-May. He is under house
arrest.

The Penn State board said in its report that it regretted telling Paterno of
its decision by telephone. It said his home was surrounded by media and
there was no “dignified, private” way to meet him there.

Spanier, it said, “failed to meet his leadership responsibilities”
after learning of the 2002 incident.

Spanier did not tell the board what he knew about the episode and also made
statements to the media that were unauthorised or contradicted the board’s
instructions, it said.

Paterno died
of lung cancer in January
. Spanier remains a tenured professor, the
board said.

At Monday’s hearing, Sandusky’s attorney Joe Amendola said it was unfair not
to have more specific information for building a defence. Several of the
accusers say in court documents that the alleged abuse occurred over several
years, including one who said it began when he was 8 and lasted six years.

“We want to see if we have an alibi defence,” Amendola said. “Mr.
Sandusky has to go through virtually every day of his life to try to figure
out things.”

But prosecutor Joe McGettigan said the accusations came from “very
troubled children.”

“If the victims were capable of providing detail … we would have done
so,” the prosecutor said.

Views: 0

You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.

Leave a Reply

Powered by WordPress | Designed by: Premium WordPress Themes | Thanks to Themes Gallery, Bromoney and Wordpress Themes