HARRISBURG, Pa., Dec. 2 (UPI) -- Prosecutors asked a judge to deny a request by former Penn State President Graham Spanier's defense team, identifying multiple times Spanier allegedly lied.
A prosecutors' response to the request for Spanier, who was university president when a child sex-abuse scandal broke involving former Penn State assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky, included 18 statements made by Spanier before a grand jury that the prosecution alleges constituted perjury, the State College Centre Daily Times reported.
Spanier's lawyers filed the request in September, seeking information they said was critical to building their defense.
In the response filed Friday in Harrisburg, state Chief Deputy Attorney General Bruce Beemer said Spanier testified he wouldn't have interfered with police and wouldn't necessarily know what the officers did day-to-day in their investigation. He also testified he didn't know the identity of the witness who saw Sandusky involved in "horseplay" with a boy in a university shower.
Prosecutors said in the response Spanier testified that, to the best of his recollection, no one told him former football Coach Joe Paterno was notified of the shower incident, the Daily Times reported Friday.
In the response, prosecutors also said Spanier denied he discussed reporting the "horseplay" incident to police and that he had information of previous allegations against Sandusky involving children.
Spanier, former Athletic Director Tim Curley and retired Vice President Gary Schultz are being tried on charges of perjury, obstruction of justice, child endangerment, conspiracy and failure to report abuse in the scandal involving Sandusky.
Spanier, Curley and Schultz all filed statements in September in Dauphin County Court. The response last week was for Spanier only, the Daily Times said.
Sandusky is serving 30 to 60 years in prison. He was convicted last year of 45 counts of child sexual abuse. The scandal led to the firing of Paterno, who died five months later.
