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The case against Penn State assistant football Coach Jerry Sandusky is getting thornier, now that his lawyer is asking that all 52 sex-abuse counts against him be dropped. Sandusky has been charged with raping 10 minors over a 15 year period. His lawyer, Joe Amendola, gave a plethora of reasons he sought such dismissals, in what is called an “omnibus pretrial motion.â€
“We raised a number of issues that we thought were pertinent for various reasons,†said Amendola. “But the judge will have to decide that. We’ll see what happens.â€
The issues included the claim that Sandusky was not read his Miranda rights when questions by Penn State police in 1998; that most of the alleged rapes are supposed to have happened before 2002, which, according to the statute of limitations which says a sex-abuse victim has five years after their 18th birthday to report the crime, would make them invalid; that two of the alleged victims haven’t even been identified; that police performed an illegal search of his house, and any evidence so-procured was inadmissible; that one of the witnesses to the alleged rapes now suffered from dementia and could not testify in court; and that no specific dates for many of the alleged abuses have been established, making it impossible for the defense to establish legitimate alibis.
Judge John Cleland has subsequently scheduled a hearing on April 5.
