Jerry Sandusky Appears in Pa. Court to Appeal Conviction

Update, 4 p.m.: Jerry Sandusky attended Monday’s hearing wearing an orange prison jumpsuit, according to ABC News. As he entered the courthouse, Sandusky reportedly told reporters to “read what has been written,” and offered no other commentary on his chances for a new trial.

The presiding judge, John Cleland, questioned Sandusky’s attorney Al Lindsay as to whether there really is a strong enough argument for him to grant an evidentiary hearing almost four years after his client’s conviction. 

Lindsay described his intent to question Sandusky’s previous lawyers, as well as a man who claims to be “Victim 2” from Sandusky’s trial. He said that the prosecutor in the case, Joe McGettigan, knew the victim’s identity, but feigned ignorance.

As for Sandusky’s defense team, Lindsay plans to attack the decisions to let NBC’s Bob Costas interview Sandusky, to waive the preliminary hearing and to not let Sandusky take the stand during the trial.

Cleland did not say when a ruling could be expected.

Earlier, 11:30 a.m.: Former Penn State Assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky was due to appear in front a judge at the Centre County Courthouse Monday morning, USA Today reports.

Back in 2012, Sandusky was sentenced to 30-60 years in prison after he was found guilty of sexually abusing 10 children while an employee of the university. Nearly a year ago, Sandusky began a crusade to appeal the charges of which he was convicted.

“The commonwealth’s entire case was a house of cards resting on testimony that trial counsel should have exposed as incompetent, unreliable and inadmissible,” his then-new lawyer, Al Lindsay, wrote in 2015.

Today, Judge John Cleland will listen to arguments from Sandusky’s attorneys as well as prosecutors. Sandusky, 72, and his legal team plan to argue that Sandusky was convicted as a result of an unfair trial, as well as failures by his previous defense lawyers to point out what he believes to be obvious holes in the prosecution’s case. They plan to question people who were involved in the investigation and prosecution of Sandusky.

Sandusky is hoping for his conviction to be thrown out or to be granted a new trial. He is currently serving his sentence at Greene state prison.

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