A federal magistrate judge vacated former Penn State President Graham Spanier’s child endangerment conviction Tuesday.
The ruling from Magistrate Judge Karoline Mehalchick said that the application of a 2007 version of the child endangerment statute related to his conduct in 2001 was unconstitutional. She added that the jury instruction based on the same statute was unconstitutional as well.
Spanier was found guilty of one count of child endangerment in March 2017. The case was brought against Spanier after he was accused of failing to take a report of child sexual abuse by Jerry Sandusky to authorities.
The ruling said that the Pennsylvania Attorney General’s Office could retry the case.
“We’ve received the court’s opinion and are reviewing it,” a representative for the Attorney General’s Office told FOX43 via email.
