"The Commonwealth has not asserted . . . that any communications made by an alleged victim were made within a treatment relationship with a therapist and that the communications were confidential," the judge wrote.
Cleland's ruling comes a week after Sandusky's attorney, Joseph Amendola, requested access to documents that he maintains will prove his client was set up by his accusers. Many of the purported victims knew one another and were in contact during the period in which they were testifying before a state grand jury last year, Amendola said in court filings.
Others have juvenile records that might call their testimony into question. At least one visited a psychologist who later determined that it was unlikely that the boy had been sexually abused, the lawyer said.
That boy - identified in court filings as "Victim 6" - was at the center of a 1998 investigation in which his mother maintained that Sandusky had inappropriately touched her child in a locker-room shower. Then-Centre County District Attorney Ray Gricar declined to press charges at the time.
But prosecutors have argued that the findings of the boy's psychologist should fall under doctor-client privilege, even though their relationship began as part of a criminal investigation. Likewise, they have said, the accusers' juvenile arrest records should be protected under state law.
In his ruling Tuesday, Cleland said he was inclined to grant Amendola access to the psychological report but cautioned that if he granted the lawyer's request, the records would be placed under seal and could be referenced in court only with the judge's advance permission.
Sandusky, 68, has denied allegations he assaulted 10 boys over a 15-year period. He remains confined to his State College home while he awaits trial in May.
Contact Jeremy Roebuck at 267-564-5218 or jroebuck@phillynews.com, or follow on Twitter @jeremyrroebuck.
