Judge orders trial for 2 Penn St. officials

By MARYCLAIRE DALE and MARK SCOLFORO

Associated Press

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) - Two Penn State officials can be tried on charges of lying to a grand jury about an allegation of child sex abuse against ex-Penn State assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky, a judge ruled Friday.

Prosecutors have probable cause to move forward with the cases against Tim Curley and Gary Schultz, District Judge William C. Wenner concluded after hearing testimony in a Pennsylvania courtroom.

The two men's lawyers maintain they are innocent, and contest assistant football coach Mike McQueary's grand jury testimony that he told Curley and Schultz that he saw Sandusky molest a boy in a locker room shower in 2002.

Curley and Schultz are charged with lying to a grand jury and failing to properly report what McQueary told them.

Sandusky says he is innocent of more than 50 charges stemming from what authorities say were sexual assaults over 12 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 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.

Curley and Schultz testified to the grand jury that McQueary never relayed the seriousness of what he saw and that they told Spanier what they knew before telling Sandusky not to bring children on to campus.