Spanier was convicted two years ago by a jury in Harrisburg on one count of endangering the welfare of children for his handling of the Sandusky scandal, and he was sentenced to at least two months of prison plus two months of house arrest.
After exhausting his appeals in state courts, a judge three weeks ago set a date for him to begin serving his sentence. But one day before Spanier was to report to prison, a federal judge tossed his conviction.
That judge has ruled that Spanier’s conviction was based on changes to the law that took effect in 2007, six years after the conduct in question. The attorney general can retry Spanier or appeal the judge’s ruling to the federal Third Circuit Court of Appeals.
A spokesman says the attorney general’s office is carefully reviewing the judge’s opinion.