Geez, you don't ask for much, do you ;-) I guess can
try to separate fact from fiction. Here's what I'll do. I'll answer your specific questions based on testimony. Then I'll add some stuff I wrote up over a year ago - summaries of what I think is clear from the various testimonies available then, and my best guess at what happened in 2001.
His "
first two glances were, what I call glances, maybe one or two seconds." He could see JS's entire backside but they were at a "
quartering away angle", so JS blocked his view of the boy, but not all of the boy. He did not see JS's hands. When asked whether he saw movement, he said "
Very little, but I would say slow movement, certainly not hard or fast movement but a little movement." There was a third look as he was leaving but I don't think he said how long it was. He did say they made eye contact. (12/16/2011 preliminary hearing, p.15-19, 92-93) but he never said he made eye contact to make sure the boy was ok. And there was some later testimony where he clarified he made eye contact with them but could not really confirm whether they saw him.
The rest of the stuff below are things I wrote up over a year ago.
## This is what is clear from McQueary’s testimony about what he witnessed:
- The first thing that alerted McQueary that someone else was present in the relatively deserted Lasch Football Building on a late Friday evening were sounds that he heard when entering the hallway to the locker room. McQueary heard what he described as slapping sounds that made him embarrassed – he was thinking another staff member had a girl in the shower. That was his frame of mind prior to entering the second set of doors to the locker room.
- The Grand Jury Presentment listed a date of 3/1/2002 for this incident. That date was later changed to 2/9/2001. McQueary has been criticized for not knowing the exact date. This subject was addressed at the Sandusky trial (pages 234 – 235). McQueary testified that he was 90% sure it was in 2002 but that it also could have been 2001. The other detail McQueary provided was that it was a Friday before spring break. Prosecutors likely settled on a March date because Penn State’s spring break occurs then. It is possible McQueary thought the incident was before spring break since the 2/9/2001 date is just two days after national signing day, thus the football coaches and graduate assistants were heading into a period of down time after a busy recruiting schedule.
- McQueary’s consistency in how many views, whether two or three, was the subject of quite a few questions and answers at the Sandusky trial (pages 227 – 233).
- The inconsistency could simply be a distinction of two viewpoints/positions versus three separate looks, two of those from the same viewpoint.
- McQueary has been remarkably consistent in all of his various testimonies with respect to what he heard, what he did not hear, and what he did not see:
- He heard two or three slapping sounds before entering the second set of locker room doors.
- After passing through the second set of doors, McQueary did not hear any more slapping sounds.
- McQueary did not hear any verbiage from Sandusky or the boy.
- McQueary did not hear any screaming or protests from the boy.
- McQueary did not see genitals.
- McQueary did not see Sandusky's hands.
- McQueary did not see insertion.
- McQueary did not see a look of pain on the boy’s face.
- McQueary testified, “I believed Jerry was sexually molesting him and having some type of intercourse.”
- McQueary testified, “I can't sit here and say that I know 100 percent sure that there was intercourse, but that's what I said to myself and that's truly what I believed was happening.”
- McQueary concluded his testimony at the Sandusky trial about what he believed – that Sandusky sodomized a young boy – not what he had explicitly seen.
- McQueary did not call police that night. Neither his father nor Dr. Dranov advised him to call the police.
##
This is what is clear from McQueary’s testimony about what he told Paterno:
- McQueary made it clear to Paterno what he witnessed was sexual in nature, that it was wrong, but he “did not go into gross detail.”
- McQueary did not use the word crime with Paterno and he did not tell Paterno that he thought police should be called.
- McQueary testified he “would have explained to [Paterno] the positions they were in roughly, that it was definitely sexual, but I have never used the word anal or rape in this -- since day one.”
- McQueary did not use the terms sodomy, intercourse, anal intercourse, or anal sodomy with Paterno.
- McQueary testified elsewhere that, “it looked like there was intercourse going on,” but that he was not 100 percent certain.
- McQueary testified that he was sure that he used the word fondling in his discussion with Paterno.
- McQueary had testified that he did not see any type of fondling, but that’s what he thought was going on.
##
My best guess at what happened in 2001
The Penn State football buildings were largely deserted on the night of February 9th, 2001. It was the beginning of the weekend, it was the off-season, and recruiting efforts were mostly complete after national signing day two days prior.
Mike McQueary got inspiration to go to his office to pick up recruiting tapes. He’d also recently picked up new sneakers and took them along to drop them off in his locker.
When he walked in the first door to the locker room he heard slapping sounds which made him think a buddy, a fellow graduate assistant coach, had taken a girl in there. It was late on a Friday evening. The facilities would be deserted. After all, the entire coaching staff was taking a collective break after national signing day two days prior.
But when McQueary passed through that second door and turned to his locker, he decided to look over his shoulder into the mirror and take a peek at his buddy. He didn’t see who he expected at all. It was Sandusky and a young boy. They were as close together as they could be. Sandusky’s arms were on or around the boy. McQueary stepped a little away from his locker to get a direct look. It made no sense to him. He was expecting to see a fellow assistant coach in there with a girl. He stepped back to his locker and slammed the door shut to alert them to his presence. He promptly left, but saw them both on the way out. He saw that they were separated. He made eye contact with the boy.
McQueary was expecting to see sex. He didn’t expect it to be Sandusky and a young boy. That the boy didn’t cry out; that he didn’t have a look of pain on his face; that he didn’t ask for help confused McQueary even more.
Needless to say, McQueary was flustered. He went to his office and called his dad. He went to his dad’s house to explain what just happened. His dad got a family friend and business partner to come over to the house, a medical doctor, Jonathan Dranov.
What McQueary told his father and Dr. Dranov that night wasn't significant enough to call police. But it was significant enough they thought he should tell Paterno.
Whatever it was, it was McQueary's opinion that it was sexual and/or way over the line. He never told anyone he witnessed an anal rape. He told Paterno he thought it was fondling, a touching situation. But that’s just it. He told him what he thought was going on. He didn’t actually see fondling or anything else that was an explicitly sexual act. And he would have told Paterno that, presumably.