Jerry Sandusky and his attorneys were back in Centre County court Thursday morning for a hearing to argue for a new trial. Sandusky’s lead attorney, Joe Amendola, testified that he was rushed to trial and therefore, his client should be granted a new trial.
Back in June, the former Penn State assistant football coach was convicted on 45 counts of sexual abuse involving ten boys.
A smiling Jerry Sandusky made his way to Judge John Cleland’s courtroom, his first time out of prison since his October conviction. Defense attorney Joe Amendola took the stand, arguing that he did not have enough time to go through thousands of documents from prosecutors a month before the case went to trial.
“You can’t take 6400-6500 pages and give them to a lawyer and say let’s start the trial real soon,” said Norris Gelman, who is handling Sandusky’s appeal. “You have to give a lawyer time to work with it and time to digest it.”
Chief Deputy Attorney General Frank Fina said the defense had more than enough time to prepare.
“Anybody can go through a box of information adequately and prepare for trial,” Fina said. “And as you saw, Mr. Amendola did that and did a good, effective job.”
When cross-examined by prosecutors, Amendola admitted on the stand that knowing the information in the un-reviewed documents would not have changed his defense of Sandusky.
Tom Kline, the Philadelphia-based attorney for Victim Five, sat in on the hearing and said the defense doesn’t have a leg to stand on.
“My prediction there would be, based on having reviewed many a trial record for many a year, that there is going to be no reversal,” Kline said.
But when asked about their chances, Sandusky attorney Norris Gelman used a basketball analogy to say he’s optimistic.
“It’s a long three-pointer. Some of those go in,” he said.
A decision from Judge Cleland could come down at any time. Prosecutors said they expect a swift decision. If Sandusky’s appeal is denied, the case would go to a Superior Court.