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Saturday, April 30
PS4RS 4/29/2016 Statement: AG Not Pursuing Appeal
Tuesday, April 19
Why I Didn't Read "Wounded Lions"
"Wounded Lions" author Ron Smith set out to create the history to support a never to be proven allegation that PSU officials failed to report Sandusky in 2001.
By
Ray Blehar
According to a January 19, 2016 email from "Wounded Lions" author Ron Smith, he set out to find the "historical background" that explained "how Penn State administrators responded to the Sandusky scandal."
Smith was not speaking about how the Penn State Board of Trustees sold the University down the river under the false pretense that they were caught by surprise by the Sandusky investigation.
He was digging around trying to find individuals who would support the false narrative of an insular athletic culture that didn't conform to the rules of the rest of the University.
Smith's emails contained numerous examples of his falling for false narratives that the Attorney General's office and Louis Freeh wrote to deflect attention away from the failings of the Pennsylvania State Police, The Second Mile, and child welfare agents. Instead, they heaped the responsibilities of those organizations onto Penn State.
The gullible emeritus professor got played like a fiddle.
While Smith claims to have done extensive research about the history of PSU athletics, he admitted that he wasn't concerned about whether people were innocent or guilty.
Seriously?
The whole "Penn State scandal" was based on allegations that Curley and Schultz, then eventually Spanier, failed to report abuse but Smith didn't believe he needed to find out whether that happened or not.
What is even more crazy is that Smith admitted that if a trial took place, PSU officials wouldn't be found guilty.
That statement said a lot about Smith's knowledge about the scandal.
First, all he needed to do was read the child abuse reporting statutes to know whether or not what PSU did (or didn't do) was criminal. It wasn't. The statute didn't apply to University administrators in 2001 and still doesn't today -- even after revisions to the statutes in 2014.
Next, he didn't follow the case close enough to know that Spanier, Curley, and Schultz are scheduled to be tried together. There will be one trial, not three.
Finally, he didn't think they would be found guilty -- but the failure to report Sandusky charge is the decision for which he based his historical research.
So Smith forges on apparently assuming the PSU 3 are guilty -- but won't be convicted at a trial because of a lack of evidence.
Speaking of evidence or lack thereof, the book's premise is that PSU athletics was an "insular" operation.
Well, that premise was defeated by the evidence that was made public the day the Sandusky grand jury presentment was published.
Evidence: PSU athletic department officials were extremely forthcoming and open in reporting and/or investigating Jerry Sandusky in 1998 and in 2001.
In 1998, PSU Athletic Director (AD) Timothy Curley did not interfere or attempt to get involved in a child abuse investigation of then full-time assistant coach and defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky.
In 2001, athletic department employees Mike McQueary, Joe Paterno, and AD Curley, when confronted with another incident of retired former coach Sandusky's inappropriate behavior with a child, reported the incident in accordance with University protocols. In short, it was reported outside athletics.
Neither the 1998 nor the 2001 incident fit Smith's template of athletics as an "insular" operation.
But he somehow built a half-century of history to show that it was.
That's why I didn't waste my time reading "Wounded Lions."
By
Ray Blehar
According to a January 19, 2016 email from "Wounded Lions" author Ron Smith, he set out to find the "historical background" that explained "how Penn State administrators responded to the Sandusky scandal."
Smith was not speaking about how the Penn State Board of Trustees sold the University down the river under the false pretense that they were caught by surprise by the Sandusky investigation.
He was digging around trying to find individuals who would support the false narrative of an insular athletic culture that didn't conform to the rules of the rest of the University.
Smith's emails contained numerous examples of his falling for false narratives that the Attorney General's office and Louis Freeh wrote to deflect attention away from the failings of the Pennsylvania State Police, The Second Mile, and child welfare agents. Instead, they heaped the responsibilities of those organizations onto Penn State.
The gullible emeritus professor got played like a fiddle.
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| Smith built a half century of history to support a false narrative of an insular football culture. |
Seriously?
The whole "Penn State scandal" was based on allegations that Curley and Schultz, then eventually Spanier, failed to report abuse but Smith didn't believe he needed to find out whether that happened or not.
What is even more crazy is that Smith admitted that if a trial took place, PSU officials wouldn't be found guilty.
First, all he needed to do was read the child abuse reporting statutes to know whether or not what PSU did (or didn't do) was criminal. It wasn't. The statute didn't apply to University administrators in 2001 and still doesn't today -- even after revisions to the statutes in 2014.
Next, he didn't follow the case close enough to know that Spanier, Curley, and Schultz are scheduled to be tried together. There will be one trial, not three.
Finally, he didn't think they would be found guilty -- but the failure to report Sandusky charge is the decision for which he based his historical research.
So Smith forges on apparently assuming the PSU 3 are guilty -- but won't be convicted at a trial because of a lack of evidence.
Speaking of evidence or lack thereof, the book's premise is that PSU athletics was an "insular" operation.
Well, that premise was defeated by the evidence that was made public the day the Sandusky grand jury presentment was published.
Evidence: PSU athletic department officials were extremely forthcoming and open in reporting and/or investigating Jerry Sandusky in 1998 and in 2001.
In 1998, PSU Athletic Director (AD) Timothy Curley did not interfere or attempt to get involved in a child abuse investigation of then full-time assistant coach and defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky.
In 2001, athletic department employees Mike McQueary, Joe Paterno, and AD Curley, when confronted with another incident of retired former coach Sandusky's inappropriate behavior with a child, reported the incident in accordance with University protocols. In short, it was reported outside athletics.
Neither the 1998 nor the 2001 incident fit Smith's template of athletics as an "insular" operation.
But he somehow built a half-century of history to show that it was.
That's why I didn't waste my time reading "Wounded Lions."
Thursday, April 14
Corbett's Grand Jury Lie, Part 3
The Sandusky case was sent to a grand jury so that the investigation would die a slow, secret death
By
Ray Blehar
While the Moulton Report found no direct evidence that former Pennsylvania Attorney General (AG) and one-term Governor Tom Corbett influenced the Sandusky investigation, it absolutely concluded the investigation was slow walked.
While the report may not have used those exact words, Special Deputy AG Geoffrey Moulton and AG Kathleen Kane instead used "inexplicable" and "inexcusable,' respectively, to describe the delays in the investigation.
Kane was right. The delays were "inexcusable."
Moulton was wrong. The delays were not "inexplicable."
Kane's mistake not to clean house upon taking office resulted in the evidence that would have explained the delays being excluded from Moulton's report.
That evidence would have shown that Frank "moral responsibility" Noonan's did his best to derail the initial investigation and that when it landed in Corbett's lap, the AG was going to let the Sandusky case die a slow, secret death inside the grand jury.
The Evidence
The following evidence of the investigator's failure to follow leads and conduct routine investigative work was known to Moulton's team but not included in the report.
That didn't happen.
By
Ray Blehar
While the Moulton Report found no direct evidence that former Pennsylvania Attorney General (AG) and one-term Governor Tom Corbett influenced the Sandusky investigation, it absolutely concluded the investigation was slow walked.
While the report may not have used those exact words, Special Deputy AG Geoffrey Moulton and AG Kathleen Kane instead used "inexplicable" and "inexcusable,' respectively, to describe the delays in the investigation.
Kane was right. The delays were "inexcusable."
Moulton was wrong. The delays were not "inexplicable."
Kane's mistake not to clean house upon taking office resulted in the evidence that would have explained the delays being excluded from Moulton's report.
That evidence would have shown that Frank "moral responsibility" Noonan's did his best to derail the initial investigation and that when it landed in Corbett's lap, the AG was going to let the Sandusky case die a slow, secret death inside the grand jury.
The Evidence
The following evidence of the investigator's failure to follow leads and conduct routine investigative work was known to Moulton's team but not included in the report.
Failure to Find Victim 9
During the first twenty months of the investigation, the Pennsylvania State Police (PSP) and OAG were completely reliant upon Aaron Fisher (Victim 1), Dawn Daniels, and Central Mountain High School officials to generate leads.
As the investigation languished, the AG and PSP failed to investigate the first lead about other victims ever provided by Fisher, who provided the first names of two young men who had highly unusual first names beginning with the letter "S."
Fisher provided that information at his initial interview on November 20, 2008.
It is unclear whether or not Trooper Cavanaugh included that information in his police report that eventually made its way to the OAG. However, it is obvious that Cavanaugh didn't attempt to find Victim 9, as that would have required contacting The Second Mile (TSM) to find out the child's last name.
TSM wasn't contacted about the investigation until January 2011.
It is unclear whether or not Trooper Cavanaugh included that information in his police report that eventually made its way to the OAG. However, it is obvious that Cavanaugh didn't attempt to find Victim 9, as that would have required contacting The Second Mile (TSM) to find out the child's last name.
TSM wasn't contacted about the investigation until January 2011.
According to the Moulton Report, the investigation went cold in March 2010 and nothing happened until October. Typically, when an investigation goes cold, it is common practice to go back to square one and review all of the existing evidence with the hopes of uncovering something that was missed.
That didn't happen.
In fact, the investigators did not go back to Clinton County CYS until June 27, 2011.
The search warrant Sandusky's home was approved one week before the investigators visited Clinton County CYS. On June 22nd, the investigators finally searched Sandusky's home.
According to the trial testimony of AG Agent Anthony Sassano, a list of the names of participants of The Second Mile was found in Sandusky's home. Victim 9's name, his mother's first name, and his phone number was on the participant list.
Despite investigators having that considerable evidence that could have led them to Victim 9, they never followed up.
In November 2011, the assistant principal of the boy's school called the hotline after the news of the Sandusky charges hit the papers.
As it turned out, Victim 9 was repeatedly abused while the investigation lagged.
In November 2011, the assistant principal of the boy's school called the hotline after the news of the Sandusky charges hit the papers.
As it turned out, Victim 9 was repeatedly abused while the investigation lagged.
Failure to Find Victim 10
Along those same lines, one of the lists from Sandusky's PSU office generated the name of Victim 10. His name was marked with an asterisk, like some of the other victims who were presented as witnesses at the trial.
Victim 10, who had a long criminal record, was incarcerated in at State Correctional Institution - Albion, serving 22 months for robbery until July 2009. He had a prior arrest in 2004 for burglary.
Apparently, Noonan's crack team of cops and Corbett's AG investigators didn't think to check for arrest records of former participants of a charity for troubled and at-risk youth.
Four of the eight witnesses/victims presented at Sandusky trial had arrest records prior to being identified by police.
Those records were not used to find them -- and those facts were excluded from the Moulton Report.
Inexplicable delays? Certainly not.
This was turning a blind eye to evidence and not conducting the most basic investigative work.
The Moulton Report revealed that NO investigative activity occurred for ten of the first twenty months of the investigation.
The Sandusky investigation was put in the grand jury to die.
And it almost did -- until Corbett decided to use the Sandusky investigation to take out former PSU President Graham Spanier.
Those records were not used to find them -- and those facts were excluded from the Moulton Report.
Inexplicable delays? Certainly not.
This was turning a blind eye to evidence and not conducting the most basic investigative work.
The Moulton Report revealed that NO investigative activity occurred for ten of the first twenty months of the investigation.
The Sandusky investigation was put in the grand jury to die.
And it almost did -- until Corbett decided to use the Sandusky investigation to take out former PSU President Graham Spanier.
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| Until the Spanier flap, Corbett was letting the clock run out on the investigation
Coming Soon: Keystone Corruption & Corbett's Politically Motivated Prosecutions
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