Penn State’s Spanier Sues Kane in Federal Court
Former Penn State president Graham Spanier is suing Attorney General Kathleen Kane in federal court, trying to end his prosecution on charges he covered up Jerry Sandusky’s abuse of young boys at the university. Spanier accuses Frank Fina — who was a deputy attorney general, now in the Philly D.A.’s office — of misbehavior before a grand jury that provided the charges against him.
(Fina and Kane, of course, are currently butting heads over the unrelated — or is it?!?!?! — abandoned sting involving Philly Democrats.)
The complaint focuses on Fina’s actions during the grand jury testimony sessions of Spanier and former university attorney Cynthia Baldwin.
The complaint also alleges that, although Spanier had told a grand jury that he was represented by Baldwin before he testified in the April 2011 grand jury proceedings related to Sandusky’s prosecution, Fina had heard Baldwin tell the supervising grand jury judge that she did not represent Spanier, but only the university.
“Fina said nothing to correct Spanier’s statement and thereby to alert Spanier to the fact that Baldwin was not serving as his lawyer, but instead continued his questioning of Spanier,” the complaint said. “The perjury charge that Fina based on that testimony is thus based on Fina’s deception, both of Spanier and of the supervising grand jury judge, and on Fina’s blatant violation of Spanier’s attorney-client privilege.”
