December 15, 2013<\/p>\n
Three Penn State officials, accused of covering up child abuse allegations against Jerry Sandusky are scheduled to appear in court on Tuesday for a pretrial hearing before Dauphin County Judge Todd Hoover in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.<\/span><\/p>\n The three include former Penn State athletic director Tim Curley, former vice-president for business and finance Gary Schultz, and former President Graham Spanier. Criminal charges were first filed two years ago against Curley and Schultz and last year against Spanier.<\/span><\/p>\n They are charged with perjury, obstruction, conspiracy, child endangerment and failure to properly report suspected child abuse. Among other things, they are charged with knowing about sexual abuse allegations against Sandusky and failing to report them.<\/span><\/p>\n On Tuesday, the court will hear the defendants’ arguments that charges against them should be dismissed based on compromised representation by counsel during grand jury investigations. While they were accompanied to investigations by the University’s Chief Counsel Cynthia Baldwin, they have raised questions about her impartiality and conflicts, since she was representing the University. In fact, she cooperated with investigators and later testified against the three defendants, providing information that was used against them in the grand jury report.<\/span><\/p>\n These defendants have made these Baldwin-related arguments in a sealed appeal to the State Supreme Court, which declined to take up the appeal, indicating that the arguments could be made before Judge Hoover.<\/span><\/p>\n