Federal Investigator states PSU3/Paterno are clearly innocent.

[Adlee73]

According to the Federal investigator who investigated Spanier for his security clearance & interviewed several key figures in the case all 4 PSU officials are clearly innocent.
http://lawnewz.com/high-profile/the...igation-of-penn-state-scandal-breaks-silence/

 

[lionlurker]

For some reason he has never made it into a courtroom.

 

[joeparules]

According to the Federal investigator who investigated Spanier for his security clearance & interviewed several key figures in the case all 4 PSU officials are clearly innocent.
http://lawnewz.com/high-profile/the...igation-of-penn-state-scandal-breaks-silence/

That's stupid, why on earth would you interview key figures?!?! Lazy Left-eye Louie was able to come to a ton of (reasonable) conclusions (opinions) without resorting to such tactics!

 

[psuro]

Interviewing key figures is clearly no way to meet a pre-determined outcome.

 

[bkmtnittany1]

For some reason he has never made it into a courtroom.

I just thought the same thing. Why in the world would the Spanier team NOT call this guy to testify.

 

[WeR0206]

I just thought the same thing. Why in the world would the Spanier team NOT call this guy to testify.

Apparently they came close enough to calling him to testify that he made himself available on Thursday in daulphin county. But at the last minute the defense decided to not call any of their witnesses.

 

[j-buff]

No wonder why Louie responded like he did on Friday

 

[bkmtnittany1]

Apparently they came close enough to calling him to testify that he made himself available on Thursday in daulphin county. But at the last minute the defense decided to not call any of their witnesses.

Sorry...this stuff just baffles me. Can't for the life of me figure out why he wasn't put on the stand.

 

[WeR0206]

Sorry...this stuff just baffles me. Can't for the life of me figure out why he wasn't put on the stand.

+1

 

[TenerHallTerror]

Apparently they came close enough to calling him to testify that he made himself available on Thursday in daulphin county. But at the last minute the defense decided to not call any of their witnesses.

as I have opined elsewhere, what did they have to gain? Jury was gonna find Spanier guilty of SOMETHING. They picked the weakest charge, which can get overturned on appeal once you get that crap out of the cess pool that is Dauphin county.

I'm laughing, though, and people on the webz criticizing this report as merely Snedden's "opinion". What do they think jury verdicts are??

 

[Keyser Soze 16801]

Spanier's defense team are the Atlanta Falcons of the courtroom. Very disappointing.

 

[jerseylion109]

has everyone involved in this whole thing made every bad decision possible. I mean what kind of strategy was C/S/S lawyers coming up with for 5 years. I dont think they are all guilty but damn they have done themselves no favors. unreal.

 

[LundyPSU]

Did Snedden only interview people or did he also have access to emails and notes?

 

[psuro]

At the risk of oversimplifying this, I will take a stab at the reason - the defense figured Spanier would be found guilty of something, so they wanted to save their bullets for the appeal. I don't know if you can bring new witnesses into the appeals process (I have not watched enough Law and Order to know), but that is my guess.

Lawyers- how far off the mark am I on this?

 

[PSU Dave]

According to the Federal investigator who investigated Spanier for his security clearance & interviewed several key figures in the case all 4 PSU officials are clearly innocent.
http://lawnewz.com/high-profile/the...igation-of-penn-state-scandal-breaks-silence/

What's the chance this gets picked up coming from Ziegler.

 

[PSUArnie]

No wonder why Louie responded like he did on Friday

Reading Louie's statement, I was under the impression he was drunk out of his mind when he came up with that incoherent babble. At least he wasn't driving I assume.

 

[Madsol]

At the risk of oversimplifying this, I will take a stab at the reason - the defense figured Spanier would be found guilty of something, so they wanted to save their bullets for the appeal. I don't know if you can bring new witnesses into the appeals process (I have not watched enough Law and Order to know), but that is my guess.

Lawyers- how far off the mark am I on this?

No, an appeal is based on the record created in the trial court. Can't have new witnesses and new evidence.

 

[Rip_E_2_Joe_PA]

Did Snedden only interview people or did he also have access to emails and notes?

He had access to everything... emails....files....phone records.... and lastly interviews.

 

[TenerHallTerror]

He had access to everything... emails....files....phone records.... and lastly interviews.

as someone who once had Top Secret security clearance, I can assure you these investigations are no joke.

Imagine the gall of a "victim's advocate" like Toxine implying that this professional investigator would compromise such an investigation, and subsequently national security, because he went to Penn State.

 

[BobPSU92]

I'm laughing, though, and people on the webz criticizing this report as merely Snedden's "opinion". What do they think jury verdicts are??

Yes, and freeh's report was fact-based.

 

[TenerHallTerror]

Yes, and freeh's report was fact-based.

yes but Freeh interviewed 400 people

I mean, 150 people

ok likely 100 people at least

ok more like 35? 20? 6? Just Ken Frazier, Bernie McCue, and Vickey Triponey maybe?

and they reviewed 3.5 MILLION documents. and found 7 that might, if you held them up to the right light on the right day of the year, and present them out of sequence and out of context . . . MIGHT say that Joe Paterno was the devil incarnate

I need to call Alex Jones for this one . . .

 

[BobPSU92]

No, an appeal is based on the record created in the trial court. Can't have new witnesses and new evidence.

Based on that, the defense cannot bring in Snedden or his report on appeal. Given that, then why not have him testify even if you are certain Spanier would be found guilty of something? At least you would have the opportunity to re-emphasize the importance of Snedden's conclusions on appeal.

 

[didier]

has everyone involved in this whole thing made every bad decision possible. I mean what kind of strategy was C/S/S lawyers coming up with for 5 years. I dont think they are all guilty but damn they have done themselves no favors. unreal.

It's very bizarre.

 

[BobPSU92]

yes but Freeh interviewed 400 people

I mean, 150 people

ok likely 100 people at least

ok more like 35? 20? 6? Just Ken Frazier, Bernie McCue, and Vickey Triponey maybe?

and they reviewed 3.5 MILLION documents. and found 7 that might, if you held them up to the right light on the right day of the year, and present them out of sequence and out of context . . . MIGHT say that Joe Paterno was the devil incarnate

I need to call Alex Jones for this one . . .

freeh was dealing in so many facts, it's nearly impossible to keep them all straight. You know what they say. The truth is always more confusing than a lie.

 

[didier]

According to Ziegler this guy also thinks Jerry may be innocent so I'm a little circumspect.

 

[TenerHallTerror]

freeh was dealing in so many facts, it's nearly impossible to keep them all straight. You know what they say. The truth is always more confusing than a lie.

I have actual footage of Freeh and his team discussing the report

 

[Rip_E_2_Joe_PA]

According to Ziegler this guy also thinks Jerry may be innocent so I'm a little circumspect.

What the agent Snedden states is that there is no forensic evidence that JS commited any crimes.... and that is entirely understandable given the nature of the crimes and the function of time. Zeigler, as usual, takes that credible statement and turns it into something else for his JS is innocent crusade. What troubles me is that it would have been very easy to have gotten forensic evidence in 1998.... in 1994....investigating JS's activities in the 1980s and early 90's when these things were under investigation by Gicar ....setting up a sting. The door could have been slammed back then, if only, the expert switch did not occur to reversing the direction of the investigation. This has been bothering me for a long long time.

 

[LundyPSU]

He had access to everything... emails....files....phone records.... and lastly interviews.

IF he had access to everything, then he probably should have been called. My thought of why he may not have been called as a witness, was based on him not having access to everything, especially the emails and notes from 2001.

 

[Ceasar]

At the risk of oversimplifying this, I will take a stab at the reason - the defense figured Spanier would be found guilty of something, so they wanted to save their bullets for the appeal. I don't know if you can bring new witnesses into the appeals process (I have not watched enough Law and Order to know), but that is my guess.

Lawyers- how far off the mark am I on this?

Just my .02 but I think Spanier's team knew the state had not proven their case. So why give them an opening by presenting witnesses? Today a guy was on trial for attempting to bribe former state Treasurer Rob McCord. The prosecution rested their case and the Judge immediately dismissed all charges as the prosecution failed to meet the burden of proof. Same thing should have happened in Spanier's trial and I posted after the state rested asking if there was a motion for directed verdict.
Now, if you believe the jury was going to find him guilty of something no matter what, then it made no difference that they did not call a witness and in fact it could have made the verdict worse. Spanier's lawyers have to operate under an assumption that the system works and if they operate under that theory then IMHO their decision is completely justifiable. Of course their "backup" plan was/is an appeal and they have several grounds for that.

 

[Rip_E_2_Joe_PA]

IF he had access to everything, then he probably should have been called. My thought of why he may not have been called as a witness, was based on him not having access to everything, especially the emails and notes from 2001.

As an FBI agent assigned to this case, what government agency could stop him from the task he was assigned. I understand your thinking, but any restriction on his investigation would be subject to 'obstruction' of justice charges. Read his report. You will have no misgivings about his access to any and all information.

 

[Ceasar]

As an FBI agent assigned to this case, what government agency could stop him from the task he was assigned. I understand your thinking, but any restriction on his investigation would be subject to 'obstruction' of justice charges. Read his report. You will have no misgivings about his access to any and all information.

I did not read the report (though I am looking forward to it). But he was not investigating a crime and therefore no government entity had any obligation to cooperate with him. And to Lundy's point, no way was the state of PA going to turn over information to someone not connected with the defense team and entitled to it through discovery.

 

[Rip_E_2_Joe_PA]

I did not read the report (though I am looking forward to it). But he was not investigating a crime and therefore no government entity had any obligation to cooperate with him. And to Lundy's point, no way was the state of PA going to turn over information to someone not connected with the defense team and entitled to it through discovery.

He did not have to go to the state to turn over evidence in his investigation. He had full access to anything that PSU had and also had all the confiscated Second Mile documents, at least the ones that were not shredded. I am not aware of anyone turning down his requests for information from the state..... are you?

 

[Ceasar]

He did not have to go to the state to turn over evidence in his investigation. He had full access to anything that PSU had and also had all the confiscated Second Mile documents, at least the ones that were not shredded. I am not aware of anyone turning down his requests for information from the state..... are you?

I was thinking, and could be mistaken, that he would not have had access to all witness statements and investigative documentation produced by the state. And if he therefore had only access to PSU documents, he would be at a severe disadvantage.

 

[roswelllion]

I think many of us would have liked Snedden on the stand just to contradict the Freeh nonsense. Somebody should do a book just on comparing the two.
From what I read there was absolutely nothing that compromised Spanier last week. Nobody said they told GS anything close to CSA. The only thing that gets GS were the famous emails. Snedden wasn't going to refute that. Having said that what harm could it have done?

 

[MtNittany]

What troubles me is that it would have been very easy to have gotten forensic evidence in 1998

What should trouble you is that AF claimed over 100 acts of forced sex w/ JS and yet had no evidence (or even any contemporaneous reports) of any of them.

 

[getmyjive11]

I found a shot of Spanier's lawyer after the verdict was read...

Seems like this guy could have helped.

 

[Lion Lineage]

As an FBI agent assigned to this case, what government agency could stop him from the task he was assigned. I understand your thinking, but any restriction on his investigation would be subject to 'obstruction' of justice charges. Read his report. You will have no misgivings about his access to any and all information.

Snedden is not an FBI agent. And he was conducting a background investigation, not a criminal investigation. He didn't have the ability to subpoena people or documents.

 

[Bayou Lion]

as I have opined elsewhere, what did they have to gain? Jury was gonna find Spanier guilty of SOMETHING. They picked the weakest charge, which can get overturned on appeal once you get that crap out of the cess pool that is Dauphin county.

I'm laughing, though, and people on the webz criticizing this report as merely Snedden's "opinion". What do they think jury verdicts are??

Snedden's opinion on whether the US Gov could trust GS with material classified above Top Secret that could damage the country severely. Yea just another opinion.

 

[psuro]

I found a shot of Spanier's lawyer after the verdict was read...

Seems like this guy could have helped.

That is my favorite Daniel Day Lewis character. So very well played and done.

 

[Lion Lineage]

Snedden is not an FBI agent. And he was conducting a background investigation, not a criminal investigation. He didn't have the ability to subpoena people or documents.

Let me add: It is Ziegler himself who is claiming that Snedden worked for FIS, not the FBI. And based upon the background that was released with a return address to OPM, that makes sense.