by Laura Nichols

Former Penn State President Graham Spanier has asked a judge to drop criminal charges for his alleged mishandling of child sexual abuse reports made against Jerry Sandusky.

In court documents filed Wednesday in Harrisburg, Spanier’s attorneys said he should not be charged with perjury and obstruction of justice because the prosecution used the testimony of former Penn State counsel Cynthia Baldwin.

Spanier believed Baldwin was working for him at the time, and his attorneys say she violated the attorney-client privilege because of her grand jury testimony.
Spanier’s attorneys said her testimony should be thrown out because she violated grand jury secrecy rules when she testified on behalf of the university — not disclosing that she was supposed to be counsel to Spanier.

The attorneys also claim the child endangerment and failure to report charges should be dropped because they were filed too late.

Last November, Spanier, former Penn State athletic director Tim Curley and former Penn State vice president Gary Schultz were charged with perjury, endangering the welfare of children, failure to report, criminal conspiracy and obstruction of justice.

Prosecutors called their actions a “conspiracy of silence.”

Curley and Schultz have also asked to have their cases dismissed. None of the men has appeared in court since the charges were filed on Nov. 1.