HARRISBURG- Attorneys for former Athletic Director Tim Curley and former Interim Senior Vice President for Finance and Business Gary Schultz argued Thursday that the perjury charges against their clients should be thrown out, since the charges are not based on facts.
Caroline Roberto and Tom Farrell, attorneys for Curley and Schultz, respectively, argued before Judge Todd Hoover at the Dauphin County Courthouse in Harrisburg that the issues the prosecution raised against Curley and Schultz are based on opinions their clients made on information relayed to them. Curley and Schultz were not present at the hearing.
Roberto argued that there is nothing to corroborate any false statements made to the grand jury for the perjury charges, especially after the death of late head football coach Joe Paterno.
Curley and Schultz are charged with lying to a grand jury about reports of sex abuse involving former defensive coach Jerry Sandusky. They are also charged with failure to report child sex abuse in relation to a 2001 incident involving Sandusky acting inappropriately with a boy in the Lasch Football Building Showers. Both Curley and Schultz have maintained their innocence through their attorneys.
Sandusky was convicted in June on 45 counts of sexually abusing boys he met through his charity, The Second Mile.
The arguments, which lasted about an hour, did not result in a decision by Hoover to drop the perjury charges.
The decision on whether to throw out the failure to report child sex abuse charge will be tackled at a later date, based on the defense's recent argument about the statute of limitations in the case.
Also discussed at the hearing was the issue of preserving notes and other materials taken by investigators. The defense argued that they should be given the actual notes the investigators took, rather than the investigator’s summary of the notes they took.
Presecutor Bruce Beemer said the suggestion that investigators would write something in their notes and not put it in the summary is a “huge leap.”
No date has been scheduled for the trial in the case.
