In an appeal hearing here on Friday, one-time Penn State football luminary and convicted child molester Jerry Sandusky took the stand for the first time in his years-long legal saga, claiming errors in his defense that warrant a new trial.
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“I believe we decided that given the commonwealth’s surprise revelation at trial about Matt Sandusky that it may have been in his best interest not to testify, but there were a lot of conversations back and forth on that”, Rominger told Judge John Cleland. “All you have to do is say you’re innocent.’ That was the extent of what I was expecting”.
Earlier this summer, the presiding judge said the hearing will delve into a prosecutor’s closing statement, the decision to let Sandusky give a television interview after his arrest, and other issues. “I’ve comforted others, I’ve been comforted. I’ve been me. I’ve been loved, I’ve been hated”.
Sandusky was convicted on 45 of 48 counts related to the sexual assault of 10 boys on June 22, 2012, and was sentenced to 30 to 60 years in prison.
He testified by video link during a January 2014 hearing about his ultimately successful effort to have his $4,900-a-month pension reinstated.
Sandusky, his lawyers wrote, “will testify regarding each accuser and deny that he committed the crimes alleged”.
Sandusky founded a charity for at-risk children where prosecutors say he recruited victims.
Sandusky also testified that he would have taken the stand during his trial but his attorney told him to stay silent.
“Mr. Sandusky will submit that he did not start The Second Mile in order to groom victims”, his lawyers wrote. A spokesman for Attorney General Kathleen Kane said Thursday that her office will “vigorously” defend the prosecution in court, according to the newspaper.
“If a textbook were to be written on how not to try a sex-offense case involving overwhelming media attention, this case would provide the model”, Sandusky’s appellate attorney, Al Lindsay, wrote in court filings this year, Philly.com reports.
Dottie Sandusky, wife of former Penn State University assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky arrives at the Centre County Courthouse for his appeals hearing about whether he was improperly convicted four years ago, in Bellefonte, Pa. Friday, Aug. 12, 2016.
He is seeking dismissal of the charges or a new trial.
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The hearing continues and is expected to last rest of the day. Sandusky is serving 30 to 60 years in prison for sexual abuse of 10 boys.
