Sandusky's lawyers ask court to order release a slew of records

February 08, 2012|By Jeremy Roebuck and John P. Martin, Inquirer Staff Writers
  • His lawyers seek more detailed reports ofcounts against him.

Jerry Sandusky's lawyer says prosecutors have redacted or withheld hundreds of pages of evidence in the child sex-abuse case against the former football coach, including records that could help show Sandusky's accusers colluded against him.

In a motion filed in Centre County, lawyer Joseph Amendola asked a judge to order the state Attorney General's Office to turn over or release more details on dozens of police reports, psychiatric evaluations, interview notes, and other material gathered during the three-year investigation.

The request was not unusual; defense lawyers routinely clash with prosecutors over what evidence they get and how quickly they get it.

Story continues below.

But the 37-page motion, made public on Tuesday, offered an unusual glimpse of the scope of the investigation against Sandusky, the longtime defensive coordinator to Joe Paterno at Pennsylvania State University.

Amendola's filing cited hundreds of grand jury subpoenas, dozens of police reports, and at least 1,4000 photos investigators seized during the probe. It cited one subpoena that sought records of all reported child-abuse cases "within certain areas" of the state during the years 1997, 1998 and 1999 - a time when Sandusky retired from Penn State to focus on the Second Mile, the charity he founded for underprivileged children.

Along with the filing, Amendola asked Senior Common Pleas Court Judge John M. Cleland to order prosecutors to disclose the telephone numbers of the young men whom prosecutors say Sandusky abused between 1994 and 2008 so he can determine if they had contact with each other before or during the investigation.

"In many cases, the defendant believes the accusers may have collaborated with each other in making these false accusations," the motion said.

Sandusky's lawyer offered no proof of any collaboration, nor any indication that the redacted information he sought would exonerate the coach, who has denied the charges that he molested 10 boys.

Many of the requests in the filing lacked context but had just enough detail to stoke new interest in the case.

For instance, Amendola asked for information from an interview that Karen Arnold, a former Centre County assistant district attorney, gave to investigators about her office's 1998 review of allegations that Sandusky had abused a boy.

The filing says Arnold had "extensive disagreements" with her boss, former District Attorney Ray Gricar, over the case, but it does not elaborate.

1 | 2 | Next »
|
|
|
|
|