TMCnet News
Corbett says prosecutors 'probably' investigating whether Penn State obstructed justiceHARRISBURG, Jul 19, 2012 (The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- The previous Penn State administration was not forthcoming to subpoenaes seeking email evidence in the Jerry Sandusky case and that issue is "probably the subject of an investigation in the Attorney General's Office," Gov. Tom Corbett said Thursday. Corbett, the former attorney general who launched the investigation of the nation's most notorious pedophile, told reporters, "I think you need to say prior administration, prior people who were in control. Now if I limit it to that, I am very disappointed in the lack of forthcoming evidence to the subpoena that was given to them by the attorney general's office. " Asked if he thought administrators obstructed justice, Corbett said, "I have my own opinion and I am not going to share it with you." The agency's investigators "are certainly checking into it to see why emails were not turned in earlier," said Bruce Antkowiak, a former federal prosecutor and law professor at St. Vincent's University. "That doesn't mean there was obstruction of justice. Obstructioni s not something you can comite negligently. It is a crime of specific intent." The governor was responding to reporters' questions about why former FBI Director Louis Freeh's report on the scandal last week had emails that were not provided to the attorney general. The 1998 and 2001 emails were "the most important evidence in this investigation," Freeh said, and led to conclusions that former Penn State President Graham Spanier and former football coach Joe Paterno were involved in a cover up of Sandusky's acts. The university's trustees hired Freeh's law firm in the aftermath of Sandusky's arrest on child molestation charges last November. Corbett, a former federal prosecutor, said he recommended Freeh. "Let's take a look a the facts," Corbett emphasized. "There was a change in control" of the Penn State administration. A spokesman for Penn State could not be reached. Two administrators, Athletic Director Tim Curley and Gary Schultz, former vice president of finance Gary Schultz are charged with failing to report a 2001 incident and for lying to a grand jury. Corbett read from a June 11 court filing by the Attorney General's Office that said: "the commonwealth has come into possession of computer data (again, subpoenaed long ago but not received from PSU until after the charges had been filed in this case) in the form of emails between Schultz, Curley and others that contradict their testimony before the grand jury." "The Governor is saying essentially that Penn State was not as cooperative as it could have and should have been during the initial AG's Office's investigation," said University of Pittsburgh Law School professor John Burkoff. "After the fact, after the Sandusky charges, Penn State was much more forthcoming and cooperative with Louis Freeh, whose services Penn State employed." "Clearly the Governor feels like Penn State 'dragged its feet' initially," Burkoff said. "He is implying that if he had the same 1998 and 2001 e-mail traffic that Freeh did, the AG's Office would have charged Sandusky sooner. That's probably true." But on the issue of whether late email evidence is criminal conduct, Burkoff said, the "governor is absolutely right not to offer his opinion on that question. That's a matter for the AG's Office to explore." Brad Bumsted is the state Capitol reporter for Trib Total Media. He can be reached at 717-787-1405 or [email protected]. ___ (c)2012 The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review (Greensburg, Pa.) Visit The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review (Greensburg, Pa.) at www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib Distributed by MCT Information Services |