Posted on 05/23/2012 10:45:28 AM PDT by Scoutmaster
In the final interview of his life, the infamous "rape and a man" interview, Joe Paterno told Sally Jenkins of the Washington Post that he knew nothing about a 1998 police investigation into Jerry Sandusky, who, at the time, was still Penn State's defensive coordinator. (That investigation was launched four years before Mike McQueary peered into the showers at the Lasch Football Building.) "You know," Paterno told Jenkins, "it wasn't like it was something everybody in the building knew about. Nobody knew about it."
Paterno was asking us to believe that, in a small, insular town over which he presided like some sort of secular pope, he had no inkling of a major police investigation into his top lieutenant concerning a possible sex crime against a child. This seemed incredible, given all that we had learned over the years about Paterno and Penn State. Short of any solid evidence to the contrary, however, we had to take him at his word.
Comes now Esquire magazine and writer Luke Dittrich, treading very, very carefully in a story about Paterno's final days but unmistakably casting doubt on the coach's version of events in 1998. (The story won't be online for a couple of weeks, but the new issue will be on newsstands soon.)
First, here's Dittrich's summary of the backstory. The dates are important, as we will see in a bit:
According to the grand-jury indictment, the first time Jerry Sandusky was investigated on suspicions of sexual abuse was back in 1998. On May 13 and 19 of that year, detectives from the Penn State and municipal police departments hid in the home of the mother of an alleged victim and listened in on conversations she had with Sandusky, conversations in which Sandusky admitted that his genitals might have touched her son, and that he felt terrible about it, saying "I wish I were dead." Then, on June 1, they interviewed Sandusky in person. Shortly afterward, for unclear reasons, the case was dropped.
To put together his story, Dittrich combed through papers housed at the Paterno Library on Penn State's campus. His research turned up much about Paterno's schedule at that time—his commitments, his cancellations. And a pattern emerges:
You will find, if you dig into his archives from 1998, that he was a very busy man—he wrote in one letter that he had "committed all my free time to" and was "really stretched" by the ongoing fundraising campaign. You will find that he was a very reliable man as well. When he planned to do something, he would do it. In fact, if you look at his agenda from 1998, you'll see that he almost always kept to his schedule, and that his only cancellations fall within a very narrow window of time.The first cancellation is on May 15, two days after police listen in on Sandusky's half-confession to the mother of a young boy. That evening, Paterno cuts short a fundraising trip to Valley Forge, then cancels a four-day-long personal vacation he had been planning to take from May 16 to 19, to his summer home in Avalon, New Jersey. He resumes his scheduled fundraising trips in June, about a week after the investigation against Sandusky is dropped. He doesn't miss any more events for the remainder of the year.
The following season, Sandusky abruptly and unexpectedly announces his retirement.
Something happened that summer, but, as Dittrich writes, "The files raise questions but provide no answers." In March, some anonymous hearsay published in Philadelphia magazine drew similar inferences about Paterno. The magazine spoke with a longtime friend of Tim Curley, the on-leave Penn State athletic director now charged with perjury in connection with the Sandusky case. Here's the pertinent passage:
Many Paterno watchers, citing how he knew everything that went on in his program, find that claim of ignorance laughable. Jerry Sandusky retired abruptly in 1999, a year after the investigation, at age 55, at the height of his powers as a ballyhooed football mind. Supposedly he wanted to devote more energy to his Second Mile charity. Apparently he'd been told by Paterno that he would never be his successor as head coach. But just why Paterno told him that is an open question. When Sandusky left, the friend who's been close to Tim Curley for more than 40 years told the A.D. he was surprised the coach was gone."
"It's for a very good reason," Curley told him—but he wouldn't elaborate. (I attempted to talk to Curley, but he hasn't spoken to the media since the scandal broke.)
This section was disputed by Wick Sollers, a lawyer for the Paternos, in a letter that was published in the story's comments that can be found in a cache version. Sollers called the magazine's "claim" based on the word of "anonymous 'Paterno watchers'" "baseless," adding that there "has not been one iota of evidence from any source to suggest that Coach Paterno was ever informed about that investigation." Sollers is correct, based on what we know. But as the Esquire story demonstrates, there's still a lot that we don't know.
I don't think this will do anything but support what many suspected. Others would never be swayed by video an affidavits from Paterno himself. The Esquire article itself is available on newstands now (or soon) and will be available online in a couple of weeks.
Note that Paterno family attorney Wick Sollers of King & Spalding parsed his words. He didn't say Paterno didn't know about Sandusky's 1998 problems. He said there "has not been one iota of evidence from any source." This may begin to fall into the circumstantial evidence category, Wick.
Note that back when Sandusky retired, a close friend of Tim Curley told Curley he was surprised Sandusky was gone. Curley allegedly said: “It was for a very good reason.”
I think the term “Baseless” is pretty much a denial.
I'm bilingual. I speak attorney (and I know Wick personally). I know what 'baseless' means followed by "they haven't presented any evidence . . . yet." He still parsed he words.
Not only that, but why did so few schools pursue Sandusky after he announced he was leaving Penn State...you would think arguably one of the best-known assistant coaches would have tons of offers from other schools, but yet I don’t know of any.
That's not at all true. Any university police who interviewed or brief Paterno know. Curley likely knows, if the quote at the end of the article is true. Anybody who discussed it with Paterno would know. Sandusky would know.
Virginia and Maryland.
Maryland hired Ron Vanderlinden. Sandusky never had a formal interview just conversations on the phone.
Virginia had a couple of interviews with Sandusky but instead went with Groh.
I live near State College, PA.
The DA who dropped the charged in 1998 is the one who disappeared in 2005 without a trace, Ray Gricar. Many believe he fled to live another life.
The 1998 charges and evidence did not meet the legal requirements set by Pennsylvania.
Lets dig him up.
The whole business stinks. When does Sandusky go on trial? Never?
Sorry, no. Willfully allowing Sandusky’s actions to get swept under the rug, giving a known child sexual predator access to the football facilities, mentioning NEW actions in passing to Penn State officials without following up on them does tend to tarnish one’s reputation.
Some, like you, would rather a slanted view of Paterno. But others would like the entire Paterno story to be told because it shows how important it is to stand up against crap like this. Your version teaches people that if you don’t stand against evil that is right in front of you, you can still be a great guy. Especially when JoePa was in a position to hold sandusky accountable for his deplorable actions.
BOOOOO!!!!
Jury selection begins June 5th.
http://www.pennlive.com/midstate/index.ssf/2012/05/ae_to_produce_documentary_on_p.html
A&E to produce documentary on Jerry Sandusky child sexual abuse scandal
You're confused. If I offered a quote of Paterno allegedly said by him, in court, as evidence of the fact allegedly said by him, THAT would be hearsay. Hearsay is a statement made out of court offered in court to prove the thing uttered, so it's not hearsay if it's not in court, for one. Laymen need to quit playing lawyers.
Number two, if a person were to testify that they told Paterno or discussed with Paterno, in court, that's not hearsay. You can testify as to what you said, or as to a meeting you attended, or as to a file you passed around. Evidence 101.
Number three, if this were in court, there are innumerable exceptions to the hearsay rule.
But hearsay has nothing to do with this. Circumstantial evidence? Yes. A question of whether you would believe one party or not? Yes. But this isn't a matter of hearsay. I'm not quoting a statement made by Joe Paterno or another party out of court, in court, as evidence of the thing uttered.
That's not exactly the case. I've written about that before. For Ray Gricar to have a case in 1998, absent evidence that the genitalia were touched, he needed to prove that Sandusky showered for the purpose of sexual gratification. Try proving that in front of a Happy Valley jury when Sandusky was an active PSU coach (30+ years) and active defensive coordinator (22+ years), and The Second Mile was still a stellar brand name in the Nittany Valley. It wasn't a legal standard he couldn't meet as a matter of law, but a decision that he wouldn't be able to convince a jury, wouldn't you say?
Remember that Gricar's nephew says that Gricar always felt he was stonewalled by Penn State.
Gricar disappeared on April 15, 2005, along with his laptop computer, and the detached hard drive, which was found separately - physically damaged as well as water damaged.
If you Google it, you'll find links where Sandusky turned down the job and links where Virginia says it decided ultimately to go with Groh after an impasse with Sandusky. The best quote comes from Sandusky when he said that coaching the Cavaliers “would have been neat in a lot of ways, but I've got a lot going on here, and I'll be OK.” Penn State Scandal: Virginia's Offer to Jerry Sandusky Shows Depth of Cover-Up
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