HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) The Latest on a judge’s decision to throw out the conviction of former Penn State President Graham Spanier (all times local):
4:55 p.m.
Lawyers for former Penn State President Graham Spanier say they’re stunned by the comments from Pennsylvania’s attorney general vowing to appeal a federal judge’s decision to vacate his child endangerment conviction.
Spanier’s attorneys said Wednesday that Attorney General Josh Shapiro ”blatantly and prejudicially” misrepresented the facts as he announced he would appeal.
Lawyers Sam Silver and Bruce Merenstein say there’s no evidence Spanier was personally advised children were being sexually abused.
Spanier was convicted for his actions in response to a 2001 complaint about Jerry Sandusky showering with a boy in a team locker room.
The judge gave Shapiro’s office three months to retry Spanier, but Shapiro says prosecutors will appeal to the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
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12:35 p.m.
Pennsylvania’s attorney general will appeal a federal judge’s decision to vacate the child-endangerment conviction of former Penn State President Graham Spanier.
Attorney General Josh Shapiro announced the decision Wednesday, a day after U.S. Magistrate Judge Karoline Mehalchick ruled Spanier was improperly charged under a 2007 law for actions that occurred in 2001.
Mehalchick gave Shapiro’s office three months to retry Spanier, who had been convicted for how he responded in 2001 to a complaint about former assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky showering with a boy.
Shapiro says federal courts have limited power to act in state criminal cases, and argues Mehalchick exceeded that authority.
Spanier was forced out as president shortly after Sandusky’s arrest in November 2011.
The 70-year-old had been scheduled to begin serving two months in jail Wednesday.
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