Sandusky withdraws appeal to speed up federal review of his child sex abuse case

BELLEFONTE - Jerry Sandusky said Tuesday he understands and endorses his lawyers' move to withdraw a key claim in the appeal of his 2012 child sex abuse conviction. Sandusky, attending remotely from a conference room at State Correctional Institution Laurel Highlands, had persistent trouble hearing the questions asked of him in Centre County's stately Courtroom One. But in the end, the disgraced Penn State football icon made clear to all that the withdrawal of a claim by witness Ryan Rittmeyer that Rittmeyer testified untruthfully during his original trial 'is my decision, and I'm making the decision on the advice of counsel.' Afterward, appellate attorney, Jerry Russo, called the withdrawal a strategic move designed to get his client's broader appeals into federal court more quickly. Russo noted recantation claims like Rittmeyer's are historically viewed with disfavor in state courts. So Sandusky's team decided to sacrifice this issue in order to get more meaty legal issues with the 2012 prosecution and trial into a new venue, faster. 'We appeal (Tuesday's final denial of remaining state claims) to the Superior Court. Likely understand what's going to happen there. And then all these claims are preserved for federal review,' Russo said. Sandusky and his supporters have come to the conclusion that Pennsylvania state courts, collectively, are too invested in the former coach's conviction to fairly review his appeals. 'The federal courts have less investment in the current narrative,' Joe Stains, a retired pastor from Johnstown who said he serves, informally, as Sandusky's personal chaplain, argued after Tuesday's proceeding. 'Pennsylvania is deeply invested in the current narrative, and he really needs a fresh start. The federal court can provide that.' If the Rittmeyer claim had been fully aired before presiding Judge Maureen Skerda Tuesday, it would have delayed that 'fresh start' by several months while potentially only dealing with a fraction of the charges of which Sandusky was convicted. Prosecutors with the state Attorney General's office put on the record Tuesday that they were ready to rebut Rittmeyer's testimony. But Skerda said with the defense's withdrawal, that was all moot. Sandusky, the longtime top defensive coach for former head football coach Joe Paterno, and once a star in his own right for launching a sweeping youth charity called The Second Mile, has now served 14 years of a 30-year minimum state prison term. The prison term is based on more than 40 convictions on charges that he serially sexually abused 10 different boys in and around State College between 1994 and 2009. On Tuesday, Sandusky, now 82 years old, appeared healthy and alert from the interview room at Laurel Highlands, aside from the muffled acoustics. Russo, however, did note Sandusky is going to need a heart procedure at some point in the future. Sandusky's wife, Dottie, attended the Tuesday hearing with two friends. Reached afterward by a PennLive reporter, she said the only thing she wanted to say is that her husband is 'an innocent man.' She referred all other questions to Russo and Stains. Russo, asked about Sandusky's demeanor in their private phone conference immediately after the court session, said Jerry is 'prayerful.' Russo said Tuesday the defense believes it has powerful issues to present on Sandusky's behalf in federal court that should, at a minimum, get him a new trial. Many of them go back to the speed with which the case hit trial court. 'The Brady claim deals with the failure to provide the statements of the witnesses who testified — their original statements where they said nothing happened between them and Jerry Sandusky,' Russo said. In Sandusky's case, those and other statements weren't provided to Sandusky's trial attorneys until the eve of trial. Attorney Joseph Amendola's sought a delay, but Judge John Cleland stuck to the originally scheduled June trial date. 'The rules require that exculpatory evidence — Brady evidence — be produced to the defense in advance of trial so adequate cross examination can be prepared; so investigation can be conducted. 'None of that happened,' Russo said. The defense has long claimed that multiple victims in Sandusky's case were driven by the prospect of large civil settlements and allowed themselves to be coached by police, counselors and civil attorneys to stack stories that painted Sandusky as a master groomer and serial predator. 'Everybody that has read the entire record honestly has come to the conclusion that Jerry's innocent,' Russo said. State appellate courts to date, however, have found Amendola did extensively cross-examine police and the witnesses about their prior statements at trial. Senior Deputy Attorney General Cari Mahler declined comment after Tuesday's session. But prosecutors have criticized the defense in the past for drawing conclusions from cherry-picked excerpts of police statements and testimony transcripts, with no context from body language, demeanor or tone of voice — all of which the jury saw live in reaching its guilty verdicts. The case turned life upside down at Penn State and rocked the broader college football world, given Sandusky's prominence in the beloved Paterno's firmament. The firestorm after Sandusky's November 2011 arrest quickly cost Paterno — who notched more wins as a collegiate head coach than any other — his job, and led to then-Penn State President Graham Spanier's resignation under pressure. Spanier and two other senior administrators were also later convicted of a misdemeanor child endangerment count for failing to take a credible 2001 allegation against Sandusky to police or child welfare officials for independent investigation. As of 2018, the university had paid more than $109 million to settle Sandusky sexual abuse claims filed by at least 35 people. The case also, albeit less directly, contributed to a dramatic reshaping of the college football landscape, as major football schools rebelled against what they saw as the NCAA's dramatic assertion of new powers in the Penn State case.