Ralph Cipriano in his big trial blog writes that Josh Shapiro will ask for immediate jail for Graham Spanier's single misdemeanor conviction of endangering the welfare of a child in a hearing in Dauphin County Court of Common Pleas this coming Wednesday. A Spanier jail sentence will amount to an effective life sentence as Spanier suffers from serious life-threatening health conditions including advanced and metastasized prostate cancer as well as having had open-heart surgery two years ago to replace his aortic valve. The facts don't support the conviction of Spanier and neither does the law. This is a travesty of justice. I don't believe history will be kind to Josh Shapiro and the OAG for their handling of this case.
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State Attorney General Josh Shapiro wants to send former Penn State President Graham Spanier to jail because of a 2017 conviction on a single misdemeanor count, a move that Spanier's lawyers say may amount to a death sentence.
A hearing is scheduled at 10 a.m. Wednesday in Dauphin County Court of Common Pleas in Harrisburg before Judge John Bocabella, the same biased jurist who presided over Spanier's farce of a trial, where Spanier was convicted on a single count of endangering the welfare of a child, a misdemeanor, for allegedly having failed to prevent convicted sex offender Jerry Sandusky from preying on other children.
"The Commonwealth has asked this Court to immediately send to prison Graham Spanier, a 72 year-old, non-violent, first-time offender with serious, life-threatening health conditions, in the midst of the worst pandemic in more than a century," wrote lawyers Samuel Silver and Bruce Merenstein on Jan. 8th in an 11-page answer to the attorney general's motion to enforce a sentencing order against Spanier.
Spanier had open-heart surgery two years ago to replace his aortic valve; he also suffers from advanced and metastasized prostate cancer.
"Because [sending Spanier to jail] presents a substantial risk to Dr. Spanier’s health, the Court should deny the Commonwealth’s request and instead require Dr. Spanier to serve his four-month custodial sentence on house arrest with electronic monitoring," Spanier's lawyers wrote.
If Judge Bocabella puts Spanier in jail, it would be the finishing touch on a complete travesty of justice.
For starters, the misdemeanor charge that Spanier was convicted of not only exceeded the statute of limitations, it was also the product of bad case law manufactured by a corrupt D.A. And, as a federal magistrate has previously ruled, Spanier's conviction was unconstitutional as well.
On top of all that, Spanier's conduct at Penn State was the subject of a contemporaneous and confidential federal investigation that completely exonerated Spanier's handling of the so-called Penn State sex abuse scandal.
The federal investigation on the Penn State campus was conducted for five months in 2012 by former NCIS Special Agent John Snedden, a decorated cold case investigator.
At the time, Snedden, working as a special agent for the Federal Investigative Services, was asked to determine against the backdrop of scandal whether Spanier, then the Penn State president, deserved to have his high-level national security clearance renewed.
With national security at stake, Snedden wrote a 110-page report that was declassified in 2017, but ignored by the mainstream media.
In his report, Snedden concluded that a sensational allegation -- that former assistant football coach Mike McQueary had witnessed Sandusky committing an anal rape in the shower against an anonymous 10-year-old boy -- didn't make any sense. Snedden also determined that McQueary, who told several different versions of the shower story, wasn't a credible witness.
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State Attorney General Josh Shapiro wants to send former Penn State President Graham Spanier to jail because of a 2017 conviction on a single misdemeanor count, a move that Spanier's lawyers say may amount to a death sentence.
A hearing is scheduled at 10 a.m. Wednesday in Dauphin County Court of Common Pleas in Harrisburg before Judge John Bocabella, the same biased jurist who presided over Spanier's farce of a trial, where Spanier was convicted on a single count of endangering the welfare of a child, a misdemeanor, for allegedly having failed to prevent convicted sex offender Jerry Sandusky from preying on other children.
"The Commonwealth has asked this Court to immediately send to prison Graham Spanier, a 72 year-old, non-violent, first-time offender with serious, life-threatening health conditions, in the midst of the worst pandemic in more than a century," wrote lawyers Samuel Silver and Bruce Merenstein on Jan. 8th in an 11-page answer to the attorney general's motion to enforce a sentencing order against Spanier.
Spanier had open-heart surgery two years ago to replace his aortic valve; he also suffers from advanced and metastasized prostate cancer.
"Because [sending Spanier to jail] presents a substantial risk to Dr. Spanier’s health, the Court should deny the Commonwealth’s request and instead require Dr. Spanier to serve his four-month custodial sentence on house arrest with electronic monitoring," Spanier's lawyers wrote.
If Judge Bocabella puts Spanier in jail, it would be the finishing touch on a complete travesty of justice.
For starters, the misdemeanor charge that Spanier was convicted of not only exceeded the statute of limitations, it was also the product of bad case law manufactured by a corrupt D.A. And, as a federal magistrate has previously ruled, Spanier's conviction was unconstitutional as well.
On top of all that, Spanier's conduct at Penn State was the subject of a contemporaneous and confidential federal investigation that completely exonerated Spanier's handling of the so-called Penn State sex abuse scandal.
The federal investigation on the Penn State campus was conducted for five months in 2012 by former NCIS Special Agent John Snedden, a decorated cold case investigator.
At the time, Snedden, working as a special agent for the Federal Investigative Services, was asked to determine against the backdrop of scandal whether Spanier, then the Penn State president, deserved to have his high-level national security clearance renewed.
With national security at stake, Snedden wrote a 110-page report that was declassified in 2017, but ignored by the mainstream media.
In his report, Snedden concluded that a sensational allegation -- that former assistant football coach Mike McQueary had witnessed Sandusky committing an anal rape in the shower against an anonymous 10-year-old boy -- didn't make any sense. Snedden also determined that McQueary, who told several different versions of the shower story, wasn't a credible witness.
Josh Shapiro Seeks Death Penalty For Graham Spanier
By Ralph Cipriano for BigTrial.net State Attorney General Josh Shapiro wants to send former Penn State President Graham Spanier to jail beca...
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