NEWS RELEASE FROM ATTORNEYS FOR DR. GRAHAM SPANIER:

 07/12/2012

STATEMENT CONCERNING FREEH REPORT ON BEHALF OF DR. GRAHAM SPANIER, BY HON. TIMOTHY K. LEWIS, SCHNADER HARRISON SEGAL & LEWIS, LLP, AND PETER F. VAIRA, VAIRA AND RILEY:

"As a former Federal Judge and a former United States Attorney, we appreciate and respect the investigative efforts of the Freeh Group and the comprehensive report they have today provided the Board of Trustees of Penn State University.

Unfortunately, Judge Freeh's conclusion, repeated often during his press conference this morning, that Dr. Spanier was engaged in a course of "active concealment," is simply not supported by the facts or by the report itself.

Not only did Dr. Spanier never conceal anything from law enforcement authorities, but prior to 2011 he was never contacted by law enforcement officials, or any other officials, about any criminal activities now attributed to Sandusky. And as he told Judge Freeh himself last Friday and has steadfastly maintained, at no time in his 16 years as President of Penn State was Dr. Spanier told of any incident involving Jerry Sandusky that described child abuse, sexual misconduct, or criminality of any nature.

While we disagree with certain of Judge Freeh's conclusions, Dr. Spanier joins with others in hoping that the University will never have to endure such a traumatic chapter again. This has been a painful episode in the history of a great university, and the thoughts and prayers of Dr. Spanier, and all of us, continue to be with the victims and their families."

Hon. Timothy K. Lewis
Schnader Harrison Segal and Lewis, LLP

STATEMENT OF ATTORNEYS JUSTINE ANDRONICI AND ANDREW SHUBIN ON THE RELEASE OF THE FREEH REPORT:

The Freeh report is absolutely devastating to Penn State. It confirms that at the highest level, Penn State officials, including the University President and head football coach, knew that Sandusky was a child predator, but made the deliberate and reprehensible decision to conceal his abuse. They chose to protect themselves, Penn State's brand and image, and their football program instead of children. The report shows that in 1999, Penn State agreed to provide Jerry Sandusky with a retirement package that specifically included Penn State credentials and access that enabled him to continue to groom and sexually abuse boys. Although the Freeh report focuses on isolated incidents of abuse in 1998 and 2001, as the criminal convictions clearly establish, Jerry Sandusky was abusing boys before 1998. We intend to demonstrate that Penn State and The Second Mile were aware of the abuse decades earlier and failed to take action to stop it.

--Statement of Andrew Shubin and Justine Andronici, who, along with the Philadelphia catastrophic injury law firm Ross Feller Casey, LLP, represent Victims 3, 7, 10, Matt Sandusky and other Sandusky victims.

PATERNO FAMILY STATEMENT:

"We are in the process of reviewing the Freeh report and will need some time before we can comment in depth on its findings and conclusions. From the moment this crisis broke, Joe Paterno supported a comprehensive, fair investigation. He always believed, as we do, that the full truth should be uncovered.

"From what we have been able to assess at this time, it appears that after reviewing 3 million documents and conducting more than 400 interviews, the underlying facts as summarized in the report are almost entirely consistent with what we understood them to be. The 1998 incident was reported to law enforcement and investigated. Joe Paterno reported what he was told about the 2001 incident to Penn State authorities and he believed it would be fully investigated. The investigation also confirmed that Sandusky's retirement in 1999 was unrelated to these events.

"One great risk in this situation is a replaying of events from the last 15 years or so in a way that makes it look obvious what everyone must have known and should have done. The idea that any sane, responsible adult would knowingly cover up for a child predator is impossible to accept. The far more realistic conclusion is that many people didn't fully understand what was happening and underestimated or misinterpreted events. Sandusky was a great deceiver. He fooled everyone - law enforcement, his family, coaches, players, neighbors, University officials, and everyone at Second Mile.

"Joe Paterno wasn't perfect. He made mistakes and he regretted them. He is still the only leader to step forward and say that with the benefit of hindsight he wished he had done more. To think, however, that he would have protected Jerry Sandusky to avoid bad publicity is simply not realistic. If Joe Paterno had understood what Sandusky was, a fear of bad publicity would not have factored into his actions.

"We appreciate the effort that was put into this investigation. The issue we have with some of the conclusions is that they represent a judgment on motives and intentions and we think this is impossible. We have said from the beginning that Joe Paterno did not know Jerry Sandusky was a child predator. Moreover, Joe Paterno never interfered with any investigation. He immediately and accurately reported the incident he was told about in 2001.

"It can be argued that Joe Paterno should have gone further. He should have pushed his superiors to see that they were doing their jobs. We accept this criticism. At the same time, Joe Paterno and everyone else knew that Sandusky had been repeatedly investigated by authorities who approved his multiple adoptions and foster children. Joe Paterno mistakenly believed that investigators, law enforcement officials, University leaders and others would properly and fully investigate any issue and proceed as the facts dictated.

"This didn't happen and everyone shares the responsibility."

ATTORNEY GENERAL KELLY RELEASES STATEMENT REGARDING FREEH REPORT

HARRISBURG - Attorney General Linda Kelly today issued the following statement regarding the Freeh Report on the Pennsylvania State University:

We respect the efforts by Louis Freeh and his investigators to explore the institutional and policy questions involving the Pennsylvania State University that have been raised as the result of the Jerry Sandusky case.

The Freeh Report should prove helpful to decision makers, the Penn State community and the public-at-large in understanding how this disturbing situation developed, as well as how to prevent it from being repeated in the future.

Throughout this entire time, the focus of the Attorney General's Office has been on the criminal process - seeking justice for the victims of Jerry Sandusky's predatory sexual abuse and identifying other individuals who may also have violated state laws.

From the beginning, Judge Freeh clearly stated that his work would not interfere with any criminal investigations and that any materials related to possible criminal conduct would be provided to authorities.

Today's release of the Freeh Report will not hinder the continuing work of our statewide investigating grand jury, nor will it impact ongoing criminal prosecutions.

NCAA STATEMENT ON PENN STATE

Statement by Bob Williams, Vice President of Communications

"Like everyone else, we are reviewing the final report for the first time today.  As President Emmert wrote in his November 17th letter to Penn State President Rodney Erickson and reiterated this week, the university has four key questions, concerning compliance with institutional control and ethics policies, to which it now needs to respond. Penn State's response to the letter will inform our next steps, including whether or not to take further action. We expect Penn State's continued cooperation in our examination of these issues." 

VOICE FOR VICTIMS:

Reaction to Release of the Freeh Investigation Report

While the long-awaited and thorough results of the Freeh Investigation do not address all questions and issues regarding the Penn State Scandal, the report does perform a crucial function. These findings reveal still more and deeper evidence of willfully disregarded opportunities to meet simple, easily understood obligations placing child protection above all else - something that should have occurred without excuse, delay or exception. We see yet again that this situation provided ample opportunities for intervention, for right-minded action, and for heroism. Unfortunately for those abused by Jerry Sandusky, they themselves were the only heroes here. Despite being children within easy reach of many supposedly great local figures, they were offered no outstretched hand. They were left to save themselves. That's a fact that didn't have to be, but one that remains true even today. The Freeh report is an opportunity to once again appreciate the magnitude of what Sandusky's victims overcame and accomplished despite a tidal wave of cowardice, self-interested influence and privilege, and wrongheaded self-reverence.

Jerry Sandusky's criminal trial shed light on his crimes and held him accountable for his horrifying role, rightly placing him at the upper peak of a pyramid of tragedy. The results of this internal investigation shed light on why the aftermath that flowed from there is rightly called the Penn State Scandal. Because icons revered on this campus, people who are put forward as role models, engaged in behaviors that absolutely no one should emulate. Because this could have remained to be about the failings and offenses of one man, but a group of men acted in ways that forced it to be about their failings and offenses too. Because in an environment that's supposed to be a bastion of education and pride, we learned more in a single season from a group of rare young heroes than from university icons who have received decades of worshipful and unconditional love.

This report reveals numerous mistakes. Mistakes that must be acknowledged and faced head-on. The lessons we now have an opportunity to learn have been presented to us on the backs of children. That is who any further denial disrespects. That is who we owe. This campus is plagued by desperate, insistent shrieks of "We are Penn State." It's time for Penn State to realize that adhering to this mantra is distancing and self-defeating. It is time to follow a path of humility, not one of hubris. It is time to appreciate and internalize the unmatchable sacrifice made by young brothers in your midst. It is time to concede that, for now and for quite some time to come, they alone are Penn State. They've have the right to wear the title if they choose to, or to set it down and treat it with indifference or even disdain. The decision is wholly theirs. They've more than earned it.

Matt Bodenschatz

Survivor, Spokesman (and PSU Student)