I posted this earlier but I fear it may have got lost in the merged thread and I'd love feedback about it.
The elephant in the room IMO is what happened with Dantonio and Curtis Blackwell last year when the gang rape occurred. The "report" issued by the law firm hired by MSU (Jones Day) following this situation a year ago seems to raise more questions than it answers and looks to me to be more of a cover up than anything else. It is vague, inconsistent, and contains very few actual facts/details. It reads as though it was written by Dantonio's lawyer and is extremely defensive of him . . . making a "case" as why he complied with MSU procedures and did not interfere with the investigation. Indeed, the fact that the report repeatedly asserts that Dantonio did not interfere with any investigation despite the fact that nobody was really publicly making that claim would seem to demonstrate a guilty conscience. I actually posted about this when the report was issued and if anyone can tell my how I can search my posts for this, I'll repost what I said because I think think I there were facts I was aware of back then that I'm forgetting now.
But here are some things to consider:
- Blackwell was clearly made the fall guy in the Jones Day report. The report states that he violated MSU's sexual assault reporting policy by engaging in his own "investigation" of the matter. But the blame is entirely laid at the feet of Blackwell. MSU's position is that Dantonio never spoke to Blackwell about the sexual assault report that was made to him by a player (Auston Robertson I believe) and Dantonio was unaware that Blackwell directly contacted the MSU players that Robertson said were involved.
- This narrative has always seemed highly unlikely. I doubt that Blackwell went to these MSU players without Dantonio's knowledge or permission.
- Blackwell was never fired. Rather, his contract was not renewed. He was suspended "with pay" after the police became involved and never lost a dime of pay. This despite the fact that he refused to cooperate with the MSU investigation (the Jones Day report indicates that a coach would not meet with them and I believe that was Blackwell). Dantonio publicly stated that the decision not to renew Blackwell's contract was related to "philosophical differences". Apparently, MSU coaches don't get disciplined for not cooperating with investigations into sexual assault by their players.
- When Robertson initially came to Dantonio to report the sexual assault, Dantonio allegedly cut him off before he could learn the details of what Robertson wanted to tell him (the report says that Dantonio had no knowledge that it was a sexual assault, when it occurred or who was involved). Yet he contacted MSU's "Office of Institutional Equity" ("OIE") because he "suspected" it involved sexual assault. The description of the conversation in the Jones Day report does not sound like an actual real life conversation that a player and coach would have.
- When Dantonio directed Robertson to tell his story to the OIE, he supposedly "asked" Robertson if he wanted an MSU football staff member to accompany him to that meeting - some guy named "Dino Folino". If MSU's policy required coaches such as Dantonio to stay out of these investigations, why would he then try to get a football staff member involved by accompanying Robertson when he went to report what he saw? How was that consistent with MSU's policy?
- In answer to the previous question, I'm guessing that Dantonio wanted Folino to be his "eyes and ears" regarding what was being reported. I also suspect that even if Dantonio didn't directly tell Blackwell to go talk to the players, Folino may have been involved in making that happen.
- The MSU police arrested Blackwell and requested that the DA issue a warrant against him for interfering with the investigation. The DA refused that request for reasons that we don't know. But, as we already know, the Ingham County DA's handling of these cases involving MSU athletes has been highly suspect.
- I seem to recall that there were reports that Blackwell approached the victim herself. Does anyone else recall that?
- So what's the elephant in the room? The question is, did Dantonio conspire to interfere with the investigation . . . either directly by getting Blackwell to talk to the alleged perpetrators or by utilizing Dino Folino to do this? Did he lie about his involvement to Jones Day, the university, the police or the public? The report issued by Jones Day reeks of a cover up IMO.
- I happen to know the person who conducted the Title IX investigation for MSU of this matter. She's very nice but she is certainly not what I would call a "heavy hitter" and doubt she has the resources to investigation something of this magnitude.
- If I'm the special prosecutor, one of the first people I'm talking to is Curtis Blackwell. I'm raising the prospect of potential criminal charges as leverage to get him to talk.
http://www.mlive.com/spartans/index.ssf/2017/06/see_external_report_on_how_mic.html
The elephant in the room IMO is what happened with Dantonio and Curtis Blackwell last year when the gang rape occurred. The "report" issued by the law firm hired by MSU (Jones Day) following this situation a year ago seems to raise more questions than it answers and looks to me to be more of a cover up than anything else. It is vague, inconsistent, and contains very few actual facts/details. It reads as though it was written by Dantonio's lawyer and is extremely defensive of him . . . making a "case" as why he complied with MSU procedures and did not interfere with the investigation. Indeed, the fact that the report repeatedly asserts that Dantonio did not interfere with any investigation despite the fact that nobody was really publicly making that claim would seem to demonstrate a guilty conscience. I actually posted about this when the report was issued and if anyone can tell my how I can search my posts for this, I'll repost what I said because I think think I there were facts I was aware of back then that I'm forgetting now.
But here are some things to consider:
- Blackwell was clearly made the fall guy in the Jones Day report. The report states that he violated MSU's sexual assault reporting policy by engaging in his own "investigation" of the matter. But the blame is entirely laid at the feet of Blackwell. MSU's position is that Dantonio never spoke to Blackwell about the sexual assault report that was made to him by a player (Auston Robertson I believe) and Dantonio was unaware that Blackwell directly contacted the MSU players that Robertson said were involved.
- This narrative has always seemed highly unlikely. I doubt that Blackwell went to these MSU players without Dantonio's knowledge or permission.
- Blackwell was never fired. Rather, his contract was not renewed. He was suspended "with pay" after the police became involved and never lost a dime of pay. This despite the fact that he refused to cooperate with the MSU investigation (the Jones Day report indicates that a coach would not meet with them and I believe that was Blackwell). Dantonio publicly stated that the decision not to renew Blackwell's contract was related to "philosophical differences". Apparently, MSU coaches don't get disciplined for not cooperating with investigations into sexual assault by their players.
- When Robertson initially came to Dantonio to report the sexual assault, Dantonio allegedly cut him off before he could learn the details of what Robertson wanted to tell him (the report says that Dantonio had no knowledge that it was a sexual assault, when it occurred or who was involved). Yet he contacted MSU's "Office of Institutional Equity" ("OIE") because he "suspected" it involved sexual assault. The description of the conversation in the Jones Day report does not sound like an actual real life conversation that a player and coach would have.
- When Dantonio directed Robertson to tell his story to the OIE, he supposedly "asked" Robertson if he wanted an MSU football staff member to accompany him to that meeting - some guy named "Dino Folino". If MSU's policy required coaches such as Dantonio to stay out of these investigations, why would he then try to get a football staff member involved by accompanying Robertson when he went to report what he saw? How was that consistent with MSU's policy?
- In answer to the previous question, I'm guessing that Dantonio wanted Folino to be his "eyes and ears" regarding what was being reported. I also suspect that even if Dantonio didn't directly tell Blackwell to go talk to the players, Folino may have been involved in making that happen.
- The MSU police arrested Blackwell and requested that the DA issue a warrant against him for interfering with the investigation. The DA refused that request for reasons that we don't know. But, as we already know, the Ingham County DA's handling of these cases involving MSU athletes has been highly suspect.
- I seem to recall that there were reports that Blackwell approached the victim herself. Does anyone else recall that?
- So what's the elephant in the room? The question is, did Dantonio conspire to interfere with the investigation . . . either directly by getting Blackwell to talk to the alleged perpetrators or by utilizing Dino Folino to do this? Did he lie about his involvement to Jones Day, the university, the police or the public? The report issued by Jones Day reeks of a cover up IMO.
- I happen to know the person who conducted the Title IX investigation for MSU of this matter. She's very nice but she is certainly not what I would call a "heavy hitter" and doubt she has the resources to investigation something of this magnitude.
- If I'm the special prosecutor, one of the first people I'm talking to is Curtis Blackwell. I'm raising the prospect of potential criminal charges as leverage to get him to talk.
http://www.mlive.com/spartans/index.ssf/2017/06/see_external_report_on_how_mic.html
