Disgraced Penn State football coach Jerry Sandusky, 82, to seek new trial in federal court 14 years after conviction

Disgraced former Penn State assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky is seeking to take his appeal for a new trial to federal court, according to a report. 

Sandusky, 82, has been serving a decades-long prison sentence since he was convicted of 45 counts of sexual abuse in 2012. Eight young men testified about what happened to them as boys. 

A court hearing in Centre County had been scheduled for September 8 to explore claims that a man wants to recant allegations of sexual abuse against Sandusky. 

However, Sandusky has now instructed his attorneys to seek a cancellation of Tuesday’s hearing, opting instead to take his appeal for a new trial to federal court, a spokesperson representing the former coach told ESPN. 

Attorneys for Sandusky are reportedly expected to file paperwork this week to withdraw from the Tuesday hearing and instead seek a federal court remedy, Frank Parlato Jr. told the outlet. 

Parlato Jr. is an investigator who has been looking into the case for three years and who encouraged an accuser, identified in court documents as R.R., to formalize his recantation in court.

Six of the 45 charges against Sandusky were attributable to R.R., then known as Victim 10. He testified that Sandusky abused him on multiple occasions in 1998 and 1999.

However, R.R. has said he was coached extensively by authorities. He said prosecutors assured him he would be compensated in subsequent civil proceedings.

‘I was told – both directly and indirectly – that trauma may have fragmented my memory, and that I could safely affirm details I did not fully recall. I was assured this was common and even expected,’ R.R. said in an affidavit filed by Sandusky’s attorneys.

His allegations were ‘based on suggestive leading questioning, prosecutorial coercion and influence, confirmatory bias and memory manipulation, which permeated throughout each of the accusers as well,’ Sandusky’s attorneys said in a court filing.

The Pennsylvania Office of Attorney General said in a statement last Friday that R.R.’s recantation is ‘highly suspect.’

Parlato said Sandusky’s attorneys had hoped to present other evidence they believe points to a flawed investigation and biased prosecution but were denied by the presiding judge. 

Therefore, Sandusky is instead seeking federal habeas relief, which generally requires prisoners to exhaust available state court remedies first. 

Sandusky has claimed that he would not receive a fair hearing in Centre County, alleging that he has previously brought matters he believed proved he deserved a fair trial before Pennsylvania courts. 

‘Over the years I have brought 15 serious issues before Pennsylvania’s courts, each one showing I deserve a new trial,’ Sandusky said, via ESPN. ‘Every one was swatted down. 

‘I have no faith this one would be treated differently, no matter how compelling the evidence. In federal court, every one of those issues can be heard together by judges who have not already made up their minds about me… I need to get there as fast as possible.

‘I am 82 years old. I am innocent. I intend to be alive when the truth is heard.’ 

Sandusky coached the defense at one of the country’s top football programs under Hall of Fame head coach Joe Paterno. The scandal led to Paterno’s firing, and the university paid more than $100 million to people who said they had been abused by Sandusky.

Authorities said Sandusky found and groomed boys at The Second Mile, a charity that he started for at-risk youth. He has repeatedly declared his innocence.

‘I apologize that I’m unable to admit remorse for this because it’s something that I didn’t do,’ Sandusky said during a 2019 court appearance.

At trial, R.R. was 25 years old. He testified that he was 11 when Sandusky performed oral sex in the coach’s basement in 1998, a transcript shows.

‘He told me that if I told anybody that I would never see my family again,’ said R.R., who was in foster care at the time.

Sandusky later apologized and said ‘he loved me,’ R.R. said.