Graham Spanier, Gary Schultz and Tim Curley have been ordered to stand trial for the cover-up of Jerry Sandusky's sexual abuse of children at Penn State University, the Associated Press reported.
U.S. District Court Judge William Wenner saw enough evidence from prosecutors to begin a trial for charges of perjury, obstruction of justice, endangering the welfare of children, failure to properly report suspected abuse and conspiracy.
Lead prosecutor Bruce Beemer said in his closing argument that Spanier, Penn State's ex-president; Gary Schultz, the former vice president; and Tim Curley, once the athletic director, engaged in a "conspiracy of silence."
Wenner concluded the two-day preliminary trial by stating it was "a tragic day for Penn State University."
According to Beemer, the three men covered up their failure to report an incident in 2001 despite a prior police investigation of complaints in 1998 against Sandusky showering with boys.
"When they were finally asked about (the 1998 investigation), it was 2011 and what happened in the interim?" Beemer said.
The prosecution's key testimony centered on Mike McQueary, a former assistant coach under Joe Paterno, who testified to telling the late football coach, Curley and Schultz about the 2001 incident.
Sandusky was convicted of 45 counts of child sex abuse and is serving a 30-to-60 year sentence in state prison. He still maintains his innocence and is appealing the court's decision.
Court papers from his trial show Sandusky to have molested one boy six months after the incident in 2001, then another shortly after and more in later years.
Penn State trustee Anthony Lubrano watched the two-day hearing and said it will likely be hard for the prosecution to get a conviction.
"If you get an unbiased jury (at a trial), it'll be hard to get those charges to stick," he said.
Spanier, the other defendants and their lawyers maintained that what was reported to them was not sexual abuse, but inappropriate horseplay.
"What was reported (in 2001) was not a report of any activity that was sexual in nature," Spanier told the grand jury in testimony read aloud in court Tuesday. "I know better than to jump to conclusions about things like that."
Keisha Odunze, a Penn State graduate student bound for medical school, said she will just be happy to know the scandal has a resolution. Many members of the school's community wish for State College to be out of the national spotlight.
"I feel everyone has taken their sweet, old time and the victims and the victims' families want to hear something ... right now because their children were affected," Odunze said. "I feel the least they could do is take it to trial to get a verdict."