STATE COLLEGE, Pa. — Jerry Sandusky’s lawyer told The Associated Press on Wednesday that the former Penn State football defensive coordinator faces two new claims of child sexual abuse but that both are unfounded.
Joseph Amendola said one claim stemmed from a Sandusky family dispute, and he characterized the other as an example of people trying to mimic other allegations and “jump on the bandwagon.”
“That doesn’t surprise me, because we believe there would be a number of copycat allegations,” Amendola said.
He said the accusations, should they result in charges, would be vigorously challenged.
New claims are recent
Sandusky is charged with sexually abusing eight boys over a 15-year period. He has said he showered with some boys but never sexually abused them.
The Patriot-News of Harrisburg has reported that the pair of new claims were brought within the past two months.
Lawyers for the two other people arrested this month as a result of the same grand-jury investigation are asking prosecutors to turn over material to help them prepare for a preliminary hearing next month.
Attorneys for athletic director Tim Curley and former university vice president Gary Schultz wrote to state prosecutors Tuesday asking for grand-jury testimony and other information related to their cases. They both faces charges of perjury and failure to properly report suspected child abuse.
Legal maneuvering
The request appears to be a long shot because such disclosures aren’t required so early in a case’s trajectory. But the letter also hints at a likely defense strategy: questioning the testimony of a graduate assistant who said he reported seeing Sandusky rape a child in 2002.
Among other things, they asked for corroboration of statements by assistant coach Mike McQueary that he told Schultz and Curley he witnessed Sandusky sodomizing a 10-year-old boy in the football-team showers nine years ago. They said such corroboration is needed to meet the relatively low legal standard required for the perjury charge to advance from the preliminary hearing to county court for a full trial.
“The presentment states no such corroboration,” wrote Caroline Roberto, who represents Curley, and Thomas J. Farrell, Schultz’s lawyer. “Please provide any in advance of the hearing or specify there is none, thereby saving the court and us considerable time and inconvenience.”
The lawyers have previously said their clients are innocent of the charges and vowed a vigorous defense.
McQueary, now on administrative leave, wrote in an e-mail to friends that he had “discussions with police and with the official at the university in charge of police” about what he saw.
He did not specify whether he spoke to campus or State College police. State College borough police Chief Tom King has said McQueary did not report to his department, and campus police have said they were unable to find a record of a report filed in 2002.
