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Paterno 'delayed forwarding report of Sandusky sex abuse because he didn't want to ruin the weekend'
- Testimonies showed lack of urgency over allegations
- McQueary says Sandusky was behind the boy in shower with his hands wrapped around his waist
- 'Boy was facing a wall, with his hands on it'
- 'It was very clear that it looked like there was intercourse going on', says witness
- Joe Paterno 'seemed shocked and saddened' when he found out
- Said did not see any actual rape but clear what was taking place
- Told Curley and Schultz and believed it was tantamount to telling police
- Curley and Schultz are charged with lying to a grand jury and failing to properly report what they were told
Former athletic director Tim Curley, the man Paterno told about the abuse, testified in a deposition today that he didn't think it was a crime.
In a hearing at Dauphin County District Court today, Paterno's deposition recounted that he was told by assistant coach Mike McQueary that he saw Jerry Sandusky fondling a boy in a locker room shower in 2002.
Did nothing: Mike McQuery testified today he told Joe Paterno about the abuse. He was fired in the aftermath of the charges against former defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky
Paterno, 84, is fighting cancer and did not appear in court, his deposition was read out, ABC News reports.
He testified: 'He (McQueary) had seen a person, an older person, fondling a young boy.
'I don't know what you would call it, but it was of a sexual nature.
'I didn't push Mike to describe it because he was already upset, but it was something inappropriate to a youngster.
'I didn't want to interfere with their weekends, (so) either Saturday or Monday, I talked to my boss, Tim Curley, by phone, saying, "Hey we got a problem" and I explained the problem to him.'
Despite admitting to the grand jury that he knew Sandusky had been seen showering with a boy, Curley said he didn't think itn was worth calling the police.
Witness: Penn State assistant football coach Mike McQueary, right, arrives at Dauphin County Court surrounded by heavy security today for the hearing of Gary Schultz and Tim Curley
Paterno and Curley's testimonies follow a pattern of slow responses showing no sense of urgency by officials over sex abuse allegations against Sandusky.
The day ended with Judge William C. Wenner ruling that there was enough evidence to try Curley and former vice president of finance Gary Schultz on charges of perjury.
Earlier Mike McQueary testified that he did not actually witness former coach Jerry Sandusky penetrating a young boy in the shower, but did see some kind of sexual molestation, which he claims he reported to two administrators.
Mike McQueary, speaking for the first time in public about the 2002 encounter in a Penn State locker room, said he believes that Sandusky was attacking the child with his hands around the boy's waist but said he wasn't 100 per cent sure it was intercourse.
Mr McQueary took the stand this morning in a Pennsylvania courtroom during a preliminary hearing for Tim Curley and Gary Schultz, two university officials who are accused of lying to a grand jury about what Mr McQueary told them. The hearing was expected to last most of the day.
Statement: Jerry Sandusky told reporters after Monday's waived hearing: 'We fully intend to put together the best possible defense that we can do, to stay the course, to fight for four quarters'
His story is central to the case against Curley and Schultz. They testified to the grand jury that Mr McQueary never relayed the seriousness of what he saw.
He said he had stopped by a campus football locker room to drop off a pair of sneakers in the spring of 2002 when he happened upon Sandusky and the boy in a shower.
He said Sandusky was behind the boy he estimated to be ten or 12 years old, with his hands wrapped around the boy's waist. He said the boy was facing a wall, with his hands on it.
The 37-year-old said he has never described what he saw as anal rape or anal intercourse and couldn't see Sandusky's genitals, but that 'it was very clear that it looked like there was intercourse going on'.
'I thought that Jerry was molesting him, having intercourse with him. I didn't see insertion or hear protest. Jerry having some type of intercourse with him, that's what I believe I saw.'
McQueary was the first of five witnesses that will testify today in a hearing before District Judge William C. Wenner to determine what Penn State officials knew about Sandusky's alleged child sexual abuse on the Penn State campus.
Information: Former Penn State Vice President Gary Schultz, right, is standing trial on charges of failure to report abuse to authorities and lying to a grand jury
Former Penn State athletic director: Tim Curley, right, arrives for a hearing at Dauphin County Court, as a judge determines if there's enough evidence to send Curley and former university Vice President Gary Schultz to trial
Under cross examination by an attorney for Curley, Mr McQueary reiterated that he had not seen Sandusky penetrating or fondling the boy but was nearly certain he knew an assault happened in part because the two were standing so close and Sandusky's arms were wrapped around the youth.
He said he peeked into the shower several times and that the last time he looked in, Sandusky and the boy had separated.
He said he didn't say anything, but 'I know they saw me. They looked directly in my eye, both of them'.
Mr McQueary said he reported what he saw to coach Joe Paterno but never went to police.
He said he did not give Paterno explicit details of what he believed he'd seen, saying he wouldn't have used terms like sodomy or anal intercourse out of respect for the long-time coach.
'I would not have done it said it that way,' he said.
He said Paterno told him he'd 'done the right thing' by reporting what he saw.
The head coach appeared shocked and saddened and slumped back in his chair, Mr McQueary said.
Paterno told the assistant football coach he would talk to others about what he'd reported.
Nine or ten days later, he told the court he met with Curley and Shultz and told them he'd seen Sandusky and a boy, both naked, in the shower after hearing skin on skin slapping sounds.
'I told them that I saw Jerry in the showers with a young boy and that what I had seen was extremely sexual and over the lines and it was wrong,' he said. 'I would have described that it was extremely sexual and I thought that some kind of intercourse was going on.'
Mr McQueary said he was left with the impression both men took his report seriously. When asked why he didn't go to police, he referenced Shultz's position as a vice president at the university who had overseen the campus police
'I thought I was talking to the head of the police, to be frank with you,' he said. 'In my mind it was like speaking to a (district attorney). It was someone who police reported to and would know what to do with it.'
Curley and Schultz are charged with lying to a grand jury and failing to properly report what they were told.
Their lawyers say the men are innocent and contest Mr McQueary's statements.
District Judge William C. Wenner was hearing testimony today to help him decide whether state prosecutors have enough evidence against the pair to send their cases to trial.
Oops: Attorney Joe Amendola speaks outside the Centre County Courthouse in Bellefonte, telling reporters if they believe the accusations they can dial 1-800-REALITY
Deep water: A second lawyer for Sandusky, Karl Rominger, said he allegedly showered with boys from his charity in Pennsylvania to 'teach them about hygiene'
Sandusky says he is innocent of more than 50 charges stemming from what authorities say were sexual assaults over 15 years on 10 boys in his home, on Penn State property and elsewhere.
The scandal has provoked strong criticism that Penn State officials didn't do enough to stop Sandusky, and prompted the departures of Hall of Fame football coach Joe Paterno and the school's longtime president, Graham Spanier.
Curley, 57, Penn State's athletic director, was placed on leave by the university after his arrest. Schultz, 62, returned to retirement after spending about four decades at the school, most recently as senior vice president for business and finance, and treasurer.
Sandusky's new lawyer, Karl Rominger, who recently joined his defence team, heaped further controversy on the disgraced Penn State coach yesterday by trying to explain why he showered with boys, saying that some of the children helped by his Second Mile charity lacked basic hygiene skills.
Mr Rominger told WHTM-TV in Pennsylvania: 'Teaching a person to shower at the age of 12 or 14 sounds strange to some people, but people who work with troubled youth will tell you there are a lot of juvenile delinquents and people who are dependent who have to be taught basic life skills like how to put soap on their body.'
Rominger later told the station that media accounts of his explanations have become 'somewhat exaggerated'.
Sandusky, the former Penn State assistant football coach, backed out of a preliminary hearing at the last minute on Tuesday.
After the hearing, another of Sandusky's lawyers Joe Amendola inadvertently made a mockery of his client's case when he held an impromptu press conference outside the Centre County Courthouse in Bellefonte, Pennsylvania.
Amendola said that the grand jury report outlining the child sex-abuse charges was deeply flawed - including allegations that Penn State coach Mike McQueary witnessed Sandusky rape a boy in a campus locker room and that he told this to Joe Paterno.
He said to them: 'If you believe this (allegation) then I suggest you dial 1-800-REALITY'
Unluckily for Amendola - and Sandusky - it turns out this is the number for a gay-sex phone line with an opening message informing the caller it is the 'hottest place for triple-X action'.
The unorthodox lawyer has already been criticised for the way he has handled the disgraced former coach's case, which included giving him the green light to do a TV interview with NBC's Bob Costas and two days of interviews with the New York Times.
Source: dailymail.co.uk
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