McQueary Testimony - Known Facts and My Opinion

STORY OF McQUEARY TESTIMONIES ACCORDING TO KNOWN FACTS

by Barry Bozeman

To my PSU friends: In the ongoing discussion of the culpability of AD Curley and VP Schultz it seems as if two camps have developed. This constitutes my complete argument on behalf of the beleaguered AD and VP and thus PSU based on as much evidence as is available.
Perhaps the major difference is generational in our initial reaction to the idea of man and boy in a shower. Perhaps we differ in our opinion of the competence of police over university administrators. But this is a serious defense of PSU in the person of its' administrators and the reasonableness of assuming that JS should have been stopped in 2001.
Remember as you read this that Tim and Gary only met with Mike for 10 or 12 minutes over a week following Feb 9, 2001, and their Grand Jury testimony reflects a less than perfect memory of that decade-old meeting. Following that meeting, Tim Curley got an explanation from Sandusky. Then they questioned and informed Dr. Raykovitz and finally they informed Dr. Spanier who make the final decision.
Gary Schultz also recalls an interaction with the Child Protective Agency that investigated the 1998 incident. It is entirely possible that he spoke with someone at that agency in the course of their investigation. It would seem to be a positive thing for Penn State if it is found that PSU administrators took a vague and muddled report by McQueary seriously and made a reasoned attempt to provide the only fair solution they thought possible at that time.

The Freeh Report "will come just short of a year from when the reputation of the university was challenged and the president and head football coach — both highly regarded as among the best nationally — were fired. And when two PSU officials — AD Tim Curley & VP Gary Schultz — were charged with perjury and failure to report an incident brought to them in 2001." writes Sara Ganim

Her piece in the Patriot-News considers the reputation of PSU and the tarnish on the image in steady calm and reasonable terms - a far cry from a media that has already determined the guilt of Gary Schultz, Tim Curley, and Dr. Spanier as well as Coach Paterno and the entire university and community.
A media conspiracy theory definitely includes Curley and Schultz who are charged with perjury and "failure to report" and possibly Dr. Spanier and Joe Paterno according to many outside of PSU and some who read and comment here.

the focus of the scandal turns to who at PSU knew what and when they knew it. The Sandusky trial answered few of these questions. Answers .. are more likely to come from a report that former FBI Director Louis Freeh’s investigators (hired by the BOT) are set to release in late summer or fall. Several people interviewed by the investigators have told The Patriot-News the questions seemed centered on the workings of the athletic department and former head football coach Joe Paterno.

This fan post will consider a key part of this situation - The testimonies of McQueary - who's words misused by AG Kelly are largely responsible for the tarnish on the image of PSU and Coach Paterno
These are the central questions - what did McQueary say to Schultz and Curley? What did they do about whatever he told them? And was the decision by Dr. Spanier based on their investigation reasonable at the time?

McQueary didn’t go into "gross detail," he said – not with his father, and not with Joe Paterno. McQueary told his father, "Dad, you don’t have to be a rocket scientist to figure out what’s going on."

We know MM told Paterno of seeing JS and a boy in the showers never saying rape or intercourse choosing instead to use "inappropriate" and perhaps "fondling". Paterno GJ Testimony read into Perjury Hearing transcript P 240
He told Dr. Dranov that he never said he saw a "sex act" but insisted he heard "sexual sounds" and "saw an arm reach out of the showers and draw a boy back in". "The boy was not startled or frightened" Dranov testimony at JS trial
We know he did not tell his father what he saw saying instead "Dad it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure it out".
We know Schultz and Curley say he did not give specifics leaving Schultz with the impression he had observed horseplay in the form of wrestling that might have involved inadvertent contact with genitals but nothing he considered criminal. It seems reasonable to me that MM did not tell Gary and Tim anything more that he told his father, Dr. Dranov, or Coach Paterno and that was not enough. See Perjury Hearing transcript p 204 thru 235

McQUEARY UNDER OATH - Grand Jury,  Perjury Hearing and the Sandusky Trial

We know that the Grand Jury Presentment insisted MM's testimony was that he observed JS subjecting the boy to anal intercourse and informed PSU officials Paterno, Curley, and Schultz. Presentment pages 6 and 7
His perjury hearing testimony: 2 or 3 slapping sounds "rhythmic and sexual" and two 2 second glances of JS backside with no hands or genitals in view as JS stood behind a boy who's head came up to his pectoral muscles with his feet on the floor. Perjury Hearing Transcript
And finally, the testimony at trial was more confident as he added that he saw subtle movement from JS midsection as he claimed certainty that he was a witness to rape. What movement can be observed or certainty established in 1 or 2 seconds? McQueary Testimony summary
The jury in deliberation asked to hear the McQueary and Dranov testimony read again. It was the only testimony they reviewed. Their verdict was "not guilty" on the count of deviate sexual intercourse so they did not believe MM and his certainty about witnessing of a rape. Jury hears testimony again
The defense did not use the Perjury Hearing testimony or the various versions of McQueary's statements to impeach his trial testimony about an unidentified "victim" 2. Don't expect attorneys for Schultz and Curley to be so negligent and soft on Mike. The prosecution used mannequins to illustrate the positions of the boy and JS according to the testimony.
Much is being made by prosecutors who said publicly on the opening day of the trial that there is a "Secret" file by Schultz and an email from Spanier to Schultz using the word "humane" in some context. Schultz did keep a file and never denied it. In fact, he said under oath that any notes or information would have been in his office and likely destroyed when he resigned in 2009 that is some "secret". Spanier and Schultz exchanged email but that does not explain the context of "humane". Schultz even thinks that Child Protective Services was notified of the McQueary report along with The Second Mile's Dr. Jack Raykovitz.
Did they violate a reporting law seemingly designed for people employed in a job that brings them into contact with children that likely is beyond the statute of limitations? Does their limited recall of what was said in a 10 or 12 minute meeting a decade ago constitute perjury?
We are faced with possibilities ranging from a well handled if limited investigation to a full-blown conspiracy and cover-up involving Paterno and Dr. Spanier.
Mike, you have to be a responsible adult capable of describing what you saw. You accuse JS of a heinous crime but cannot tell your father, Doctor and close family friend or even tell your boss and coach? Yet you expect us to believe you told Schultz and Curley? Why should we believe you over these two accomplished administrators?
PSU, Schultz, Curley & Dr. Spanier are forever tarnished. Coach Paterno is fired, his legacy maimed and he is dead. And the main reason (besides the cunning behavior of JS) is the AGs version of the testimony of MM - that he saw anal rape and reported it to Paterno, Curley and Schultz over a decade in the past. The AG should have known better but that should not indemnify McQueary from criticism for his evolving testimony and failure to speak plainly.
Mike, you left people guessing about the meaning of 2 or 3 slapping sounds that could have been hands on thighs, feet on the floor or hands on walls, and two 2 second glances of the backside of a charity founder and foster father of 6 standing up behind a standing boy in a shower where his groin would be adjacent to the boy's mid back.
What JS was doing in that shower is open to interpretation in Feb of 2001. Was he washing his foster grandson's hair? Holding a Second Mile kid he was fostering to keep him from falling or running around in showers where he could slip? Today we realize it was likely grooming behavior. But in Feb of 2001 following the investigation of a similar 1998 complaint on victim 6 - who told investigators it was just a soapy bear hug - it is obviously an open question.
Mike what you saw and heard vs what you implied was happening doesn't add up. It would take a psychiatrist to figure out why you could not tell your father, doctor, coach, and boss what you say you could tell Tim and Gary. Why you could not step in and take the boy away or call authorities right then is another mystery to many if you truly believe what you have said.
Mike helped turn the focus of the Sandusky Second Mile Sex Scandal on to Penn State and Coach Joe Paterno a decade after this event occurred. He could have gone to police anytime during the decade if he was truly convinced that JS was the monster he says he knew. We would like to think JS could have been stopped in 2001 due to the McQueary sighting but it is only wishful thinking in hindsight.
The ability of JS to operate for another decade is not the fault of Tim and Gary - it is the failure of Mike McQueary to confirm his suspicions, identify the boy, and to report clearly what he witnessed.
My apologies to my BSD friends for making this argument again but it has now become fully formed in my mind and I think worthy of intelligent consideration and discussion. Schultz and Curley are not idiots or morons. They were extremely competent administrators faced with a problem I think they saw as an overwrought grad student upset about something he did not understand or communicate vs a community icon with a very plausible explanation for the McQueary "mistake".
After careful consideration of what they were told by MM, JS, Dr. Raykovitz and possibly CYS they reported to Dr. Spanier who approved their "solution" for Penn State. The solution for Dr. Raykovitz and the Second Mile was left to Dr. Raykovitz. With the benefit of hindsight, I am certain they wish they had done more. Don't we all?
For me, the only real alternative is to believe the worst - that these men had good reason to believe JS to be a pedophile and covered it up and this covers my opinion about that:
THE COVER UP CO-CONSPIRATORS TIM CURLEY & GARY SCHULTZ (click on names to read impressive CVs)

The worst cover-up in the history of cover-ups – outside of Watergate

1. Only took a 10 to 12-minute meeting
2. Failed to recall exact words used in that 10 to 12 min meeting after a decade passed.
3. Did not tell Mike McQueary to keep his mouth shut
4. Failed to compare notes or hire attorneys before the Grand Jury testimony
5. Did not destroy "secret" files or "humane" email
6. Reported to Dr. Spanier who made the final decision.
7. Told Dr Raykovitz at the Second Mile
8. Thought Dr. Raykovitz should act to protect Second Mile kids if JS was a predator
9. Thought Second Mile was the responsible entity since JS worked there and not at PSU.
10. Told JS to stop bringing kids on campus
11. Thought this move would prompt Raykovitz to look closely at JS activities.
12. Failed to record meeting and then alter the recording
13. Didn’t try to cover up the 1998 investigation
14. Schultz retires and fails to take his confidential files with him
15. Did or did not call child protective services
16. Failed to take 2 or 3 slaps and two 2 second glances of JS backside as a sex act
17. Were not Rocket Scientists who could figure out what MM was not saying
18. Morally bankrupted PSU & community –communist infiltrators destroying America from within?
19. Curley failed to fire Paterno by phone for failure to call the police
20. Thought it humane to McQueary to spare him the embarrassment of his inability to speak plainly.
21. Hired Mike McQueary as a football coach to give him cover
    

Rec if you believe this is a valid reasoned argument. Comment if you can. Vote in the Poll
I am not trying to make any of you 'wrong' but it took this complete explanation of my point of view to answer what has been suggested in many comments on recent threads. As always my aim is to be supportive of PSU and you in the face of the unfairness in the media and the distorted opinions of many. I think this explanation of events gives PSU the most favorable appearance and that it is as close to the reality of what happened as current available evidence allows.
A BRIEF UPDATE TO MAKE ON the CYS Investigation


It's interesting that CYS does not keep records for more than a year and even more interesting that the AG's investigators only asked about records in 2002 when trying to ascertain if Gary Schultz spoke with CYS