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Subscribe to RSSA lawyer for former Penn State assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky vowed to seek a dismissal of child sex abuse charges against his client after a judge on Tuesday refused to force prosecutors to provide more details on the allegations.
Judge John Cleland rejected attorney Joe Amendola's request for more information such as exact dates of the purported molestations, details that Amendola said were crucial to building a defense against 52 counts of sexual abuse.
Instead the judge in Pennsylvania's Centre County Court sided with prosecutors, who said they had already extracted as much information as possible from the accusers, described by prosecutor Joe McGettigan as "very troubled children" who were now adults.
"If the victims were capable of providing detail ... we would have done so," McGettigan said.
Several of the accusers allege in court documents the abuse occurred over several years, including one who said it began when he was 8 and lasted six years.
"Any order directing the Commonwealth to supply details would be a futile act since the Commonwealth has explained it cannot supply the details requested," the judge wrote, using Commonwealth to refer to the state.
In response, Amendola said he will seek a dismissal of the charges.
Amendola told reporters on Monday he believed Sandusky's right to due process was being violated.
Sandusky, who has maintained his innocence, is under house arrest. Jury selection in his trial is set to begin in mid-May.
The sex abuse scandal rocked the world of college football and led to the dismissal of Penn State's legendary coach Joe Paterno and University President Graham Spanier.
The university's Board of Trustees said both men showed a "failure of leadership" in not doing more when alerted to suspicions of child sexual abuse by Sandusky.
In a statement on Monday, Paterno’s family blamed the Board of Trustees for not conducting a thorough investigation of the sex-abuse scandal and said they had changed their story about the reason's for Paterno’s firing.
"The tough questions that have yet to be addressed relate not to Joe Paterno, but to the board. Two months ago, as Joe Paterno was dying, the board conducted a series of media interviews condemning him for 'moral' failures. Now they are trying a different tack and accusing him of 'leadership' failures,” the statement, quoted in the Harrisburg Patriot-News, said.
Paterno, who was head coach at the football powerhouse for 46 years, died of lung cancer on Jan. 22.
Reuters contributed to this report.
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The guy is a menace to society. It's bad enough that he is out and about. Dismissal?!? This cretin should be off the streets and in jail!
This guy is demanding exact dates from the molested kids??? Yes, I'm sure that each one of those boys ran right home and marked on their calendars that that was the day Sandusky ruined their lives. Way to go, Amendola. The press you'll get from this should put you right up there where you want to be, high on the list of sleezy lawyers. As for Paterno, considering how much has come out from others who were around at the time all this was going on, it's awfully hard to let him off the hook. In his position I can't believe he didn't hear or see something. I think the blame falls on a lot of shoulders both at Penn State and The Second Mile for it to take this long to bring this creep's dirty deeds to light.
Basically the lawyer wants to intimidate the victims by interrogating them.
The Penn State Trustees should return all donations Paterno made to the school. After all they decided it was Paterno's fault that Sandusky wasn't prosecuted. Not the legal authorities who didn't prosecute Sandusky in 1998. Not campus security who didn't follow up in 2002. Not McCurdy so claims to witness Sandusky having sex with a boy. What man would witness such a thing, and not stop it immediately? Call his dad? Tell Paterno the next day? Yes Joe Paterno is to blame.
paterno went to campus security and then went and told the board of trustees according to both the BOT and documents presented in court. he did his job. he was told by an asst coach and preceded to take it up the chain of command. that said it would have been up to the DA to file charges.
on sandusky..i hope satan doesn't use lube. doubt he'll fry but damn do i want him to. and amendola is also a dirbag. hope they enjoy hell together.
I don't know why this pedophile just doesn't plead guilty. I think his greedy lawyers have him convinced that they can beat the charges
This is the most disgusting I have ever heard of. Letting this MORON out with house arrest. He better fess up to what he did and not tell us he is innocent. What about the boys who are now adults. That is a very dramatic thing. Sandusky just walks around, cocky as ever. That judge better wake up and do the right thing. Who do they think they are? A judge is suppose to protect us. Alot of judges in the country make their decisions on their own feelings. I bet he gave a butt load of money to the university and now he does not want to appear stupid. Ha....................