Beleaguered ex-Penn State President Graham Spanier on Monday filed a federal lawsuit urging the state to dismiss the case filed against him over charges that he attempted to cover up child abuse claims against assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky. Chicago Tribune said Spanier is among the three former officials of Penn State who allegedly lief to a grand jury when they claimed ignorance about an 1998 allegation that Sandusky had taken a shower with an underaged boy.
The lawsuit filed in the US District Court in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania against Pennsylvania Attorney General Kathleen Kane, Spanier argued that the state undertook the case in bad faith, and ergo, violated his right to a fair trial according to the US Constitution. He also claimed that the perjury charge, one among the many filed against him, was allegedly based on attorney Cynthia Baldwin's testimony in October 2012.
The Chicago paper said Baldwin represented Spanier and two others for their testimony before a grand jury in the Sandusky child abuse trial. Although the three officials whom Baldwin prepared claimed to have no knowledge of the 1998 incident, Baldwin contradicted their statements when she was called to testify as witness, saying that the three were aware of the incident. The three had since insisted that their lawyer's testimony violated their constitutional rights.
Baldwin is a former state Supreme Court justice and Allegheny County judge, The Chicago Times noted.
Sandusky at the time the three testified before the grand jury, was not yet charged until the latter's report in 2011. In June 2012, Sandusky was found guilty of 45 counts of sexual abuse involving 10 boys.
The 70 year-old is currently serving the remainder of his 60-year prison sentence, the Chicago paper said. Spanier, along with retired athletic director Tim Curley and retired vice president Gary Schultz, are currently awaiting trial in Dauphin County court in Harrisburg.
