Jerry Sandusky will be back in Centre County Court next month.
Specially-presiding Judge John Foradora last week ordered a hearing for March 24 in Sandusky’s ongoing appeal under the Post-Conviction Relief Act. Sandusky has argued that he received ineffective counsel before and during his 2012 trial on child sexual abuse charges.
Foradora’s order states “that there are possibly issues from both sides that need testimony,” but does not cite what specific issues will be addressed.
Several evidentiary hearings were held in 2016, but in November Judge John Cleland, who had been specially presiding in the case since the original trial, recused himself from further proceedings. The recusal came after Sandusky’s appeal attorneys Al Lindsey and Andrew Salemme filed a brief suggesting Cleland violated judicial rules of conduct by attending an off-the-record meeting between Sandusky’s trial attorney Joe Amendola and prosecutors in December 2011.
Foradora was appointed last week by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court to preside over the case. He is president judge for the Jefferson County Court of Common Pleas.
Sandusky will be in attendance at the hearing. Foradora another order for Sandusky to be transported from the State Correctional Institute-Greene in Waynesburg, where he is serving a 30-60 year sentence. Sandusky was convicted in June 2012 on 45 counts related to child sexual abuse.