The cat calls for Jim Boeheim's scalp have begun.

[ctchamps]

As of now, federal prosecutors are assisting the Pa Office of Atty General in its investigation and prosecution of Sandusky. This is separate from the US Dept of Ed's investigation of the university's handling of the matter. It appears that at least one reason why federal prosecutors have taken the lead in the Fine investigation and not in the Sandusky investigation is because of the state statutes of limitations. The SOL in NY is shorter than PA's and may bar state criminal charges against Fine insofar as the initial accusers are concerned; that is not the case in PA. The statute of limitations for a federal crime is more lenient, but of course there must be a federal crime. If alleged victims of Fine were transported across state lines then there's a potential Mann Act violation.

ESPN's Schwartz reported that the federal government can intercede in a state case if they determine the state in not handling a situation adequately. Is Schwartz correct?

One of the posters indicated that the time frame between the 2008 investigation and the grand jury indictment took a long time because of the political sensitivity to the Governor of PA. in that he was associated with Second Mile. Is there anything even remotely credible with that allegation?

 

[ctchamps]

I find it exceedingly odd that no one is going after ESPN for sitting on the tape recording of one of the alleged victims and Fine's wife in which she basically admitted she knew what was going on. If that wasn't a smoking gun I don't know what is.

People were outraged that McQueary and Paterno did not take the moral road and talk to the police. So you have to wonder why people are not outraged by ESPN and Syracuse Post, not turning over incriminating evidence to the police.

Add to ESPN's hall of shame that they knew the value of the evidence because they kept the tape for 8 years. ESPN has a legal team that would have advised them airing the tape or handing it over to the police in 02-03 would not have been a legal issue. They should be getting a lot of heat by the public for their inaction. And imo they would deserve it a lot more than the heat McQueary received.

 

[Aluminny69]

I knew you would and I suspect several others in this forum are aware as well. But it isn't common knowledge. The U.S. has sent 100 troops to help track Kony down. I expect if the U.S. suffers any casualties there will be a public outcry against our involvement. Some visual account of the atrocities might help people over come this resistance, but the outcome of how that plays out remains to be seen.

On the PSU matter, that is a lot of interesting development. Are these leaks or official statements? Has the federal government decided to step in? They are in the Syracuse investigation.

from Wiki:
"In October 2011, Obama authorized the deployment of approximately 100 combat-equipped U.S. troops to central Africa.[19] They will help regional forces “remove from the battlefield” Joseph Kony and senior LRA leaders. "Although the U.S. forces are combat-equipped, they will only be providing information, advice, and assistance to partner nation forces, and they will not themselves engage LRA forces unless necessary for self-defense," Obama said in a letter to Congress.[19]"

 

[UConnCat]

ESPN's Schwartz reported that the federal government can intercede in a state case if they determine the state in not handling a situation adequately. Is Schwartz correct?

One of the posters indicated that the time frame between the 2008 investigation and the grand jury indictment took a long time because of the political sensitivity to the Governor of PA. in that he was associated with Second Mile. Is there anything even remotely credible with that allegation?

There must be a possible violation of federal law for federal prosecutors to begin an investigation/prosecution. Some acts could violate both state and federal laws (see Sandusky and possibly Fine cases) in which case it is up to state and federal prosecutors to work out the jurisdictional issues and which office will take the lead. Federal prosecutors have greater resources and a better success rate, btw. The Fine case seems to involve a lapsed statute of limitations and a conflicted/compromised police department so it's not surprising that the feds have taken over. But there must be a potential violation of federal law.

I have no idea of Gov Corbett's involvement with the Second Mile back then. Corbett was the AG when the case was transferred by local prosecutors to his office in 2009 and I read that initially only one state investigator was assigned to the case which, in hindsight, has raised some eyebrows. Corbett ran for Governor in 2010, won the election and took office in 2011.

 

[ctchamps]

from Wiki:
"In October 2011, Obama authorized the deployment of approximately 100 combat-equipped U.S. troops to central Africa.[19] They will help regional forces “remove from the battlefield” Joseph Kony and senior LRA leaders. "Although the U.S. forces are combat-equipped, they will only be providing information, advice, and assistance to partner nation forces, and they will not themselves engage LRA forces unless necessary for self-defense," Obama said in a letter to Congress.[19]"

Thanks for the details. The process exposes U.S. troops to casualties. I hate seeing Americans exposed to risk. But after following the events of Joseph Kony since 1988, I applaud the action and hope the American public will do so as well.

Joseph Kony would get his recruits from kids between 9-14 years old. They would be old enough to move through the jungles on their own, but young enough to still be impressionable. He would force the kids to kill their own friends or family and then cannibalize the victims as proof of their allegiance. With that singular act, these kids would become so dehumanized they became perfect pawns for his acts of aggression and terror.

The estimated number of children he recruited this way is over 100,000 innocent children. The number of people that he and his "army" killed is estimated to to be five to six times that number and the number of displaced people are upwards of 1-2 million people.

Uganda has been a hell hole since at least Idi Amin. Museveni was just as bad. I don't remember which of these two butchers would go into a village, find the tallest structure in the village and have a contest with the babies of the villagers. I won't describe the contest. The sodomy by Sandusky on the kid in the shower was a one on a scale of ten compared to this contest.

 

[VAUConnFan]

A couple of links regarding the Bernie Fine scandal, about which there is a bit more than a passing interest on my part.

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/top_cop_knew_of_syracuse_sex_TL8GhvhYpaweXeuOUsIhFJ

http://www.syracuse.com/news/index.ssf/2011/11/onondaga_county_da_says_he_did.html

 

[Kait14]

I think, besides Bernie of course, I'd have to say I'm most disgusted with ESPN.. Truly, TRULY horrific that they sat on EVIDENCE for 8 years so that they could get a GOOD story when the time was right. Irresponsible, disgusting, immoral journalists IMO