Accuser of former Penn State football coach Jerry Sandusky expected to recant testimony
Jerry Sandusky is due to return to court next month as one of his accusers is expected to recant his testimony against the former Penn State assistant football coach who was convicted of sexually abusing boys for more than a decade, according to an affidavit.
A judge scheduled an evidentiary hearing for Sept. 8 in Bellefonte, Pennsylvania.
Sandusky, who is now 82, has been serving a decades-long prison sentence after he was convicted in 2012 of abusing boys.
An accuser known as Victim 10, who testified for the prosecution at Sandusky's trial, is now prepared to tell the court Sandusky did not abuse him.
Victim 10 alleges prosecutors coached him in order to steer his testimony and asked him to revisit and reframe his allegations, writing in a sworn affidavit provided to the defense that "[t]hroughout the pretrial process, I was told -- both directly and indirectly -- that trauma may have fragmented my memory, and that I could safely affirm details I did not fully recall. I was assured this was common and even expected." The Pennsylvania Attorney General's office is expected to address the allegation at September's hearing.
Sandusky's defense team said in a motion seeking a new trial that victim 10's now-estranged wife would testify that she concluded Victim 10 was not sexually abused as a child by Sandusky.
Prosecutors with the Pennsylvania Attorney General's office said in their response to the defense motion that the woman's opinion "thirteen years after defendant's trial, pondering what she thinks may or may not have really happened to [Victim 10] when he was 10 years old, or any other Sandusky child victim for that matter, is irrelevant and inadmissible."
