Jerry Sandusky convicted: His lawyers hint at appeal case basis

Jerry Sandusky's defense attorney Joe Amendola / CBS News

(CBS/AP) BELLEFONTE, Pa. - One of Jerry Sandusky's lawyers, Joe Amendola, says he will not lead the appeals process because he intends to testify as a witness in their ineffective counsel appeal, CBS News has learned.

Earlier, Amendola and others on Sandusky's defense team said they tried to quit at the start of jury selection in his child sex abuse trial because they weren't given enough time to prepare, raising an argument on the trial's speed that could become the thrust of an appeal.

A day after Sandusky's conviction, his lawyers disclosed Saturday they felt too unprepared to adequately defend him because of how quickly the case was brought to trial. Experts have said the seven months between Sandusky's November arrest and trial was fast-paced by Pennsylvania standards.

Sandusky's attorneys raised other issues that could be part of the future appeal, saying a mistrial was sought and denied over a repetition at trial of a brief part of a November interview Sandusky had with NBC's Bob Costas.

Sandusky was convicted of 45 child sex abuse counts, and one of the jurors said he was swayed by the "very convincing" testimony of eight accusers who said the retired Penn State assistant football coach molested them for years.

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Jerry Sandusky

Jurors in the two-week trial convicted Sandusky of 45 of the 48 counts against him, meaning Sandusky, 68, likely will die in prison.

In addition to raising the likely grounds for their appeal case, Amendola also told CBS News Sandusky's wife Dottie and his other adopted children were prepared to testify against Matt Sandusky, the adopted son who claimed he had been molested by his father but never took the stand.

Amendola, who said he was going to visit Sandusky in jail sometime this week, also claimed he never prepared his closing arguments. He says he literally stood in the shower and said: "God, help me find the words to defend Jerry as best I can." He says it was all from the heart.

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Jerry Sandusky gets 30 to 60 years in prison

[electedface]

As Attorney General, Tom Corbett received over $647,000 in campaign contributions from members of the Second Mile Foundation, while only assigning one investigator to the case.

Meanwhile, at the same time, he assigned 14 investigators to Bill Deweese, who spent more than 5 years trying to get him.

It is difficult to believe these campaign contributions did not improperly influence his decision to not file charges against Jerry Sandusky.

The state police trooper who initially handled the Clinton County case against Jerry Sandusky believed there was enough evidence from a teenage boy -- now known as Victim One-- to charge Sandusky with indecent assault.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ji7UQhr3z3M

[pleasechoseanother]

If you have no defense you will never have enough time to prepare.

[Lindag20]

They were "unprepared" after seven months? Sheez!!! I do feel soory for the son who fnally came forward, the rest of the family turned on him like mad dogs. Same thing happened to me when I after years of being beaten regularly, I confided in an older woman I was very close to. She reported my parents and then when investigated my parents and BOTH my sisters denied what was going on. No one believed me and I was left in an even worse position. I know exactly why Matt was so reluctant to speak up.

[UnkleMeat]

Exactly. Watch any interview with this guy over the past 20 years and it's pretty clear he is Chester the Molester. I hope he rots in hell. I also hope that his wife and every scumbag at Penn State that knew about this get brought up on endangerment charges for covering up for this lowlife piece of trash. How many kids could have been spared this horror were it not for "the program". This means you too, Joe.

[Jaylah54100]

LOL. Good luck with that!