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Lawyer says Sandusky will testify Friday in appeals hearing

Sandusky said he learned he would be doing an interview with NBC’s Bob Costas just minutes before it occurred and that his original defense lawyer, Joseph Amendola, strongly advised him against taking the stand.

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He emphatically denied being guilty of sexual abuse and claimed to have never had oral or anal sex with anyone, contradicting victims’ trial testimony.

“That idea is totally foreign to me and disgusting, something I never would have thought of or engaged in”, he said on Friday.

He said his lead lawyer at the time, Joe Amendola, told him a preliminary hearing, with testimony from his victims, would add to the public’s negative perception of him. “That’s what I was prepared to do”, Sandusky said on Friday. “I couldn’t tell you at that point in time the significance of it and what it meant”.

He’s also arguing his case was tainted by the prosecutor’s closing argument, a decision to have him give a TV interview after his arrest and news reports about the secret grand jury investigation before it concluded. “But the pregnant pause, which I guess will haunt all of us forever, was after the question about whether he was sexually attracted to young boys”. I love to be around them. “But no, I’m not sexually attracted to young boys”.

He was “absolutely surprised”, Sandusky testified Friday. “I didn’t expect anything that happened”.

Although he didn’t testify at the trial, Sandusky did speak during his sentencing three months later, denying he committed “these alleged disgusting acts” and hoping that “something good will come out of this”. “I never did that with anybody”. If Sandusky is successful his charges could be dismissed, but that’s less likely than the chance the judge could order a new trial.

Sandusky, who referred to Matt as “my former son”, also sought to discredit his adopted son by pointing to Matt’s supportive behavior before the trial.

But Sandusky testified: “I was a novice and I assumed that Mr. Amendola was the expert on this and that I would take his advice”.

The ruling also “blew the doors wide open” for other victims who previously believed they were outside the statute, Daniel Kiss, the attorney who filed the petition on behalf of the Boston man, said at the time of the ruling.

Sandusky was convicted of sexually abusing 10 boys and sentenced to decades in state prison.

He lost previous appeals to the state Superior and Supreme courts.

During the hearing, which is expected to last three days, Sandusky plans to describe conversations with his lawyers concerning the identity of the young man identified only as “Victim 2” in court records.

Sandusky is seeking a new trial under Pennsylvania’s Post-Conviction Relief Act ineffective counsel provision, arguing his lawyers in the original trial did not provide his constitutionally-guaranteed robust defense.

Judge John Cleland arrives at the Centre County Courthouse for an appeals hearing for former Penn State University assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky in Bellefonte, Pa. Friday, Aug. 12, 2016.

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He is hoping to have the conviction thrown out because of improper representation by his defence team.

Sandusky prepares to testify in bid to overturn conviction