Jerry Sandusky exchanges letters with Channel 11 about possibility of new trial

PITTSBURGH — Penn State football’s former defensive coach Jerry Sandusky discussed his reasons for seeking a new trial in an exchange through a series of letters with Channel 11.

WPXI’s Courtney Brennan received three letters from Sandusky in a matter of weeks after their correspondence began in January.

"If you have a genuine purpose to feature the other side of what happened, I'm interested," Sandusky said in his letter.

The letters were shared with Duquesne University law professor and Channel 11’s legal expert on the case, Wes Oliver, who believes that Sandusky has a strong case at another trial.

"He has one of the stronger cases I've seen for post-conviction relief," Oliver said.

Oliver and Brannan attended Sandusky’s 2012 trial in Centre County, where he was convicted on 45 counts of child sex abuse crimes.

Oliver said Sandusky's argument that his trial attorneys, Joe Amendola and Karl Rominger, were ineffective is a strong one.

"It looks to me like there were some serious mistakes made during this trial," Oliver said.

According to Oliver, the biggest mistake he saw was when Amendola allowed NBC's Bob Costas to interview Sandusky over the phone before the trial started.%

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A petition submitted by Sandusky’s new attorney said Amendola admitted that he prepped Sandusky only 15 minutes before the phone interview, in which Sandusky appeared to admit guilt.

"It was used forever on TV, but worse yet the prosecution played that clip for any jury who might have missed it or forgotten about it," Oliver said.

Sandusky is also arguing that there are conflicting witness statements.

"There were concerns that police had about various witnesses, there were witnesses who recanted, there were witnesses with wildly inconsistent stories that they told at trial, that Amendola either failed to discover or failed to make adequate use of," Oliver said.

In the three letters that Sandusky wrote to Brennan, he never expressed remorse or mentioned his victims, but focused solely on getting a new trial and out of prison.

"I believe we have a compelling argument," Sandusky wrote. %

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