Jerry Sandusky To File New Appeal Using Sealed Grand Jury Testimony
Jerry Sandusky will try again to appeal his conviction on 45 counts related to child sexual abuse. Alexander Lindsay, Sandusky’s current defense attorney, filed a motion on Monday asking the court to allow an appeal to be filed under seal. The appeal will include secret grand jury testimony, according to court documents.
Judge John Cleland, who presided over Sandusky’s 2012 trial, approved the motion in a court order today. There was no specific information provided in the motion on the grand jury testimony and how Sandusky intends to use it in his latest appeal.
“The materials which the defendant seeks to include in his filing are critical to certain arguments raised in the PCRA,” the motion for a sealed appeal reads.
Sandusky has filed multiple appeals since being sentenced to a 60-year prison term in 2012, with the possibility of parole at 30. In his first Superior Court appeal, Sandusky argued that Cleland should have instructed jurors to consider how long victims waited to report the abuse.
He also questioned the actions of prosecutor Joe McGettigan, who noted Sandusky’s decision to not testify in his own defense during closing arguments. The court ruled against that appeal in October 2013. Sandusky also attempted to appeal to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, but they declined to hear his case exactly on April 2, 2014.
Most recently, Sandusky’s attorney Al Lindsay claimed they were looking at “one final legal option to overturn his conviction.” It seems that this impending appeal is that final option.
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