Penn State thinks Centre County Children and Youth Services is wrong to keep one of its employees out of an alleged Sandusky victim’s lawsuit.
An alleged victim of Jerry Sandusky, known as John Doe 6 in court documents, wants to depose CYS employee John Miller, who reportedly interviewed Sandusky in the late 90s. The victim also wants to see a number of documents he thinks would strengthen his case against Sandusky, Penn State and Sandusky’s former youth charity The Second Mile.
CYS filed a motion earlier this month to quash John Doe’s subpoena, but Penn State asks a federal judge to ignore that request in new court documents filed this week.
CYS says numerous Pennsylvanian laws prevent the release of confidential information related to minors. The agency claims that forcing Miller to testify or making CYS turn over the requested documents would violate these protections.
But Penn State says this argument doesn’t hold water. University attorneys point out that the John Doe 6 lawsuit is subject to a confidentiality agreement and protective order – which “protects, among other things, documents produced by non-parties as well as deposition testimony.”
Penn State also says the plaintiff has a right under Pennsylvanian law to see the CYS documents he has requested.
“‘Upon written request, a subject of a report may receive a copy of all information,’” university attorneys argue, quoting from a Pennsylvania statute. “… Thus, because Plaintiff was the child who was the ‘subject of the report,’ he may obtain the requested information.”
CYS attorney James Johnson has previously told StateCollege.com that CYS opposes any request in any lawsuit that asks for confidential information.
“All that information is confidential, although there are some exceptions,” Johnson said. “Judges can enter court orders to allow these kinds of releases, but until that’s done we must protect our case workers and our files.”
Sandusky, a former Penn State assistant football coach, was convicted of 45 counts of child sexual abuse and was sentence to up to 60 years in prison in 2012. He is currently appealing that conviction for the third time.
As of 2013, Penn State had paid out nearly $60 million in out-of-court settlements to Sandusky victims. In April, the Penn State Board of Trustees approved an additional settlement with “one or more” Sandusky victims, but did not disclose the amount of the settlement.
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