McQueary Throws the Monkey Wrench

All of a sudden, the date on which then graduate assistant Mike McQueary witnessed Jerry Sandusky’s alleged criminal act has changed.

The Grand Jury Presentment, which is the basis for the original sexual assault charges against Sandusky and the perjury charges against Tim Curley and Gary Schultz, reflects McQueary’s testimony that the alleged attack occured on March 1, 2002. However, now that his whistleblower suit is at the fore, McQueary changed his mind. The court filing, presumably drafted with McQueary’s participation, shows the date of February 9, 2001.

That’s a bit of a problem for a few reasons.

For one thing, because the perjury charges against Curley and Schultz were based on McQueary’s sworn testimony that the incident occurred on March 1, 2002, the perjury case is at least jeopardized and might wind up being tossed out of court because the earlier date places at least some of the basis for the perjury beyond the statute of limitations. Perjury is not a capital crime.

Another problem is that fooling around with the date casts doubt on McQueary’s credibility. Why should anyone believe him at this point when he has changed his story several times? His meandering, whether it be mendacious or just sloppy testimony could provide an immense bonus to the Sandusky defense.

For example, his initial statement to the police in 2010 states, ” On the Friday before spring break in either the year 2001 or 2002, 2002 I think… bla bla bla…” Look for a bevy of attorneys to tear McQueary limb from limb. Naturally, Sandusky’s attorney, Joseph Amendola, is at the head of the pack.

“I don’t know if it’s a lie as opposed to faulty memory, and if it’s faulty memory, what else has he misremembered? [sic]” stated Amendola.

Pulitzer prize winner Sara Ganim of the Patriot-News has more on the subject.