Wednesday, November 9, 2011

Penn State: Defense Strategy Revealed

The Centre County Times printed the following statements issued by Attorney Caroline Roberto and Attorney Thomas J. Farrell on behalf of their clients Penn State Athletic Director Tim Curley and Vice President Gary Schultz:

Caroline Roberto, representing Curley , issued the following statement following his arraignment on charges of perjury and failure to report:

“Tim Curley is innocent of these charges. We will vigorously confront these challenges in court.
“Now I have three observations. First, as you heard in the courtroom, the duty report charge is a summary offense. That’s like a speeding ticket. Under the law, a duty to report didn’t even apply to Tim Curley or to his situation at Penn State.
“Number two, even if it did apply to Tim Curley, the evidence will show he reported what he knew up the chain of command, just like others in this case did.
“Number three, the charge of perjury. You should all know that perjury is a prosecutor’s charge of last resort. They charge it when they can’t prove the person did anything wrong.
“In this case, the offense occurred in 2002, and they’re trying to charge Mr. Curley with perjury for something he said nine years later. It is a distraction in this case, the charge of perjury, and it is unconscionable that the AG’s office would level such a weak case against a man of integrity like Mr. Curley.
“I will tell you, and you should know that this perjury charge is a red flag for all of you today that the charges against Mr. Curley are weak. After 18 months investigation, if this is all the AG’s office could bring we are ready to go toe to toe with them in court. We’re reader to fight this case, and we’re ready to win.”
Thomas J. Farrell, the attorney representing Gary Schultz, issued this statement following Schultz's arraignment on charges of perjury and failure to report:

“Rather than follow the law, the AG has fabricated a fiction here.
“This child protection statute does not apply to our clients, number one. And number two, they did what they are supposed to do under the statute. They reported these allegations to their boss, the president of Pen State University, as well as the executive director of the Second Mile.
“They did exactly what Mr. McQueary did, which was report to Joe Paterno, his boss. They did exactly what Mr. Paterno did, which is reported to Mr. Curley. There’s no reason they should be charged with this offense, a summary offense.
“I’ll tell you what’s going on here. The prosecution is [holding] it to the grand jury to manufacture a charge. It’s a form of prosecutorial misconduct called a perjury trap. You bring someone into a grand jury to investigate something that can’t be prosecuted, something that isn’t a crime, and then you take that persons’ inconsistencies or inaccuracies, or failure to remember what happened nine years ago. Then you manufacture a charge out of it.
“That’s what the Attorney General has done to these men. These men are the best of men. Mr. Schultz was in charge of the Penn State police and over his career insisted that time and again they investigate misconduct, alleged misconduct by professors, by coaches, by star football players. It was all investigated thoroughly.
“Most importantly he told the truth. He told the truth, as did Mr. Curley. You folks may have seen Mr. Paterno’s statement. Mr. Paterno’s statement matches their statement. They were given a general allegation of inappropriate conduct. That’s what Mr. Paterno told them. That’s what Mr. Paterno told you folks yesterday. And that’s what he testified to in the grand jury.
“They’re innocent.”
He later added, addressed to the Penn State community:
“It’s difficult because these are such good men. This will do nothing to their reputations.”


To read more: http://www.centredaily.com/2011/11/07/2977774/attorneys-for-psu-administrators.html#ixzz1dCujlGeb

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