Former Penn State assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky asks judge for new trial
Former Penn State assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky asked a judge Wednesday for a new trial in a nearly 600-page document that argued his conviction for sexually abusing children was the worst thing to happen in the United States since the Salem Witch Trials.
Sandusky’s defense lawyer Al Lindsay Jr. took aim at those who were paid millions of dollars in settlements from Penn State, the media and the state’s judicial branch.
“There are similarities to the Salem Witch Trials in that people were questioned and questioned by interrogators who were anxious to hear tales of possession and sorcery and devilish activity to confirm their preconceptions. They were encouraged to ‘remember’ imaginary events,” Lindsay wrote. “Of course the Sandusky case is far worse than the Salem Witch Trials. The Sandusky case was prosecuted after 300 years of science had exposed the nonsense of conjuring up imaginary memories.”
Lindsay argued a new trial and an evidentiary hearing is warranted because of evidence uncovered after Sandusky’s 2012 trial.
Among the claims is a boy telling an investigator in May 2011 that he “didn’t view any act of Sandusky as sexual in nature,” but in a January 2018 interview said he was groped by Sandusky. His mother filed a lawsuit in 2019, Lindsay wrote.
Sandusky’s request also alleged an improper meeting between judges, Pennsylvania prosecutors and his previous attorney before his preliminary hearing in 2011.
If a judge grants an evidentiary hearing, Lindsay wrote he expects about 20 people to testify, including Sandusky, defense lawyer Joe Amendola, a licensed psychologist and NCAA President Mark Emmert.
The Pennsylvania attorney general’s office, which did not immediately respond to a request for comment Thursday, has until March 10 to respond to Sandusky’s filing. A hearing is scheduled for May 25.
Sandusky, 79, was convicted of 45 counts of child sexual abuse in 2012. Victims said at trial that Sandusky subjected them to a range of abuse, from grooming to violent attacks.
Statements from five of those molested by Sandusky were read at a November 2019 resentencing hearing and detailed humiliation, an inability to trust others and attempted suicides.
“His failure to accept responsibility and his continual appeals and having to constantly thrust this case into the headlines has caused these victims more trauma and more pain that they did not wish to suffer and endure that anymore,” former state victim advocate Jennifer Storm said after that hearing.
His 2011 arrest prompted the firing of Hall of Fame coach Joe Paterno and the university has paid more than $100 million to people who said they were abused by Sandusky.
He is serving a 30 to 60 year sentence at Laurel Highlands state prison in Somerset County.
This story was originally published February 9, 2023 at 5:11 PM.