Sandusky asks Pa. high court to take his case

[alp227]

Source: AP

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Jerry Sandusky wants Pennsylvania's highest court to take up his appeal of a 45-count child sex abuse conviction, saying in a petition released Friday that the trial judge should have instructed jurors regarding the length of time it took his victims to come forward.

The new filing also repeated other arguments that were rejected a month ago by the mid-level Superior Court, including a claim that Sandusky's lawyers lacked sufficient time to prepare and that a prosecutor improperly referred to Sandusky's decision not to testify.

"This is a notorious case," wrote his lawyers, Norris Gelman and Margeaux Cigainero. "It is a case that tests the limits of our ability to live up to the promise our constitution makes that even in the worst of cases, a fair trial will be afforded."

Gelman said Friday that it typically takes the Supreme Court two to seven months to decide if it will grant a petition for allowance of appeal. If it does, the justices will establish a briefing schedule.

Read more: http://bigstory.ap.org/article/sandusky-asks-pa-high-court-take-his-case

[Buddha_of_Wisdom]

1. Prediction "Supreme Court: Yeah right, not gonna touch it with a 10-feet pole."

[Blue_Tires]

2. The absolute sickest part of this is

Sandusky from start to finish has NEVER seen anything wrong with his actions...In his mind he's unjustly jailed for doing something completely normal...

Actually, that's just the second sickest part...The #1 sickest is the higher ups at PSU who knew this was going on and tried to sweep it under the rug all in the name of protecting the image of a major football program...

[SummerSnow]

4. I bet his sick mind says

that those boys enticed him and they are at fault not him

[Iggo]

6. Swept it "under the rug all in the name of protecting the image of a major football program..."

A football program that still exists, mind you.

[wercal]

7. Ever wonder why Sandusky never became a head coach?

He was well known to be a good coach...the kind of assistant that gets snatched up by another program, sooner or later.

So why didn't Sandusky get snatched up?

My guess would be that a lot of people in college football had heard the rumors and kinda sorta knew/didn't want to know more.

All the PSU players and assistants who went on to become assistants at other schools....surely stories of Sandusky were heard far and wide.

Everybody kept their mouths shut though.

[yurbud]

12. The school should no longer have a team

[Posteritatis]

13. Don't forget the students rioting because he was charged... (nt)

[happyslug]

15. Penn State Students did protest/Riot over Paterno being fired but nothing on Sandusky.

The firing of Joe Paterno? lead to protest on campus but the students showed no care as to what happen to Sandusky except they were happy he went to jail. The students were complaining about the treatment Penn State was giving Joe Paterno NOT that Sandusky was indicted.

Now the Huffington Post head line on the protests mention Sandusky, but even the Article in the Huffington Post mentioned that the protest was pro- Joe Paterno only.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/11/09/penn-state-protest-for-joe-paterno-photos_n_1083331.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/11/sports/ncaafootball/penn-state-students-in-clashes-after-joe-paterno-is-ousted.html?_r=0

Efforts have been made the Joe Paterno should have reported Sandusky, but he did NOT see the act, but was told about them and when told, told the person who saw the act to report it to the administration. Paterno was NOT a mandatory reporter under state law (he had limited contact with children under age of 18k in fact NCAA rules require all coaches if they desire to see a high school student other then on the field do so with a member of the student's high school present).

This whole thing is complicated by the fact the head of the board of trustees of Penn State is the Sitting Governor of Pennsylvania, who was Attorney General of Pennsylvania when this scandal first hit. Worse, the Centre County (where Penn State is located) District Attorney said he saw a conflict in the case and referred the whole case to the then Attorney General (as required by State Law in such conflict cases). Thus Governor Colbert was involved in this case from day one and did nothing.

The whole case stinks. The disappearance of a previous Central County DA about ten years ago complicates the situation even more. Paterno had the bad luck of dying, and thus could not defend himself and all blame has been put on him. The problem is the people who could have done something are still alive and blaming everyone but themselves for this blowing up in their face.

This is either going to blow up again, or die a long lingering death for to many people do NOT want to find out who failed to do their job (Including the Governor, the rest of the board of trustees and the President of Penn State University).

[Divernan]

3. Textbook pedophile: Sandusky still believes he did nothing wrong.

I have no doubt that when the state supreme court rejects his appeal, he'll take an appeal to the USSC, and they will not grant certiorari. So for 2 more years, Sandusky will devoutly believe he will be vindicated.

On edit: granting an appeal would mean retrying the whole sordid, depraved mess - no way any appellate court will do that to the Commonwealth.

[lark]

5. Hey judges, just say NO!!

Haven't the people of the great state of PA sufferred enough already, why put them thru another painful and expensive trial when it's patently obvious, and has been proven beyond a shadow of a doubt, he's a child rapist.

[Arkana]

8. The sickest thing here is that Sandusky does not believe he did anything wrong.

He honestly doesn't. The guy is a monster.

[SoapBox]

9. Sick freak...

I say in addition to a life time locked up, neuter this SOB.

[brett_jv]

10. Generally speaking, this is a valid concern ...

It IS rather easy to let our disgust over horrendous crimes cloud our judgement ... he's not the first, and he won't be last, case of this nature in our great Nation. We DO need to make sure that the legal system follows proper protocol, particularly in notorious cases.

Put another way the collective 'legal system' still DOES need to operate properly, even when the public is collectively 'out for blood' as it clearly was in this case.

Obviously the last thing in the WORLD I wanna see is another trial for this shitbag, but there ARE important principles involved nevertheless. For example, prosecutors making mention of the defendants unwillingness to testify in such a way that this non-act in itself implies guilt ... this IS unacceptable in our system, and if the judge let it pass (I don't know the details, but I'm saying *IF* that is true) that really is a pretty major screw-up. Whether it rises to the level of 'appeal-able' I don't know, that's for a judge to (hopefully in the negative) decide. But in general, there are important principles involved here that, despite my disgust, I'm not ready to brush under the rug in the name of expediency and the outcome I desire.

[groundloop]

14. That's what I was thinking as well....

I'm convinced this dirtbag needs to stay in prison for a long long time. However, we do have a justice system with certain protocols which are supposed to ensure that people receive a fair and proper trial.

[KurtNYC]

11. what happened with the trial for the cover-up?

They named 3 enabler/conspirators last year:

It was late at night on Feb. 27, 2001, and Penn State’s then-president, Graham Spanier, one of academia’s most prominent administrators, typed a brief email to two other top administrators as they debated how to respond to a thorny situation.

He was, he wrote, supportive of the athletic director’s proposed approach.

“The only downside for us is if the message isn’t ‘heard’ and acted upon, and we then become vulnerable for not having reported it,” Spanier wrote.

The question of what exact situation the three men were discussing will go before a judge Monday to determine whether Spanier, retired university vice president Gary Schultz and then-athletic director Tim Curley must face trial on charges they covered up an allegation that Jerry Sandusky was sexually preying on boys.

http://nypost.com/2013/07/29/cryptic-penn-st-e-mail-suggesting-conspiracy-to-cover-up-sandusky-child-abuse-at-heart-of-new-charges-against-top-university-officials/