Jerry Sandusky granted resentencing, but loses appeal for new trial
Jerry Sandusky’s appeal for a new trial was denied by the Pennsylvania Superior Court on Tuesday, however, his case has been ordered back to Centre County court for resentencing.
Sandusky, a former assistant coach at Penn State, was sentenced to 30-to-60 years on 45 counts of child sexual abuse. According to PennLive.com, Sandusky’s attorneys argued that the former coach was not given a fair trial when he was convicted in 2012.
The appeals panel assigned to the case did not agree with the reasons presented, including inadequate representation from his trial attorneys, but did agree that the structuring of Sandusky’s sentence was illegal.
According to the opinion, handed down Tuesday, Sandusky’s attorneys failed to show on appeal reasons for the Superior Court to grant a new trial. Sandusky argued in the appeal that the trial court abused its discretion in areas such as denying continuances, and that his trial attorneys provided inadequate representation, arguments the Superior Court rejected.
Sandusky also claimed in his appeal that the cumulative errors in his case were so significant that they deprived him of a fair trial, which the Superior Court also ruled against.
Al Lindsay, Sandusky’s defense lawyer, was unsure if Tuesday’s decision would have much, if any, of an impact on the length or structure of Sandusky’s sentence. The motion for resentencing was granted based on “improper application of mandatory minimums,” per the Associated Press.
Sandusky, 75, was a longtime defensive assistant at Penn State, where he played defensive end. Sandusky began his tenure on the PSU coaching staff in 1969 and was promoted to defensive coordinator in 1977. He stayed in that role until 1999, when he retired to focus on his work with The Second Mile, his non-profit organization for at-risk youth.
Sandusky was arrested on 52 counts of child molestation in November 2011. Sandusky’s arrest led to the firing of PSU head coach Joe Paterno, who testified in winter 2011 that Mike McQueary, a former PSU quarterback then working as a graduate assistant, told him in 2001 that he had seen Sandusky “fondling a young boy” and that it was “of a sexual nature” without getting into specifics.
Paterno, the winningest coach in FBS history, died in January 2012 of lung cancer. He has been criticized for not doing more after hearing from McQueary and passing the information to then-athletic director Tim Curley. Curley and Gary Schultz, the school’s former vice president, both pleaded guilty to child endangerment in March 2017.
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