Official transcripts of the June 26 hearing in the Jerry Sandusky child sex abuse case were unsealed Tuesday, revealing that the Commonwealth had a “great deal” of incriminating information against Sandusky that it did not use at trial.
At the hearing, Judges John Cleland and Barry Feudale presided as prosecutors Joe McGettigan and Frank Fina and defense attorneys Joe Amendola and Karl Rominger met at Fina's request to discuss the recorded interview Matt Sandusky, Jerry Sandusky’s adopted son, conducted with police that was leaked to the media during the trial, according to court documents.
Matt Sandusky told police, according to a recorded interview leaked to the media, that his adoptive father Jerry Sandusky inappropriately touched him -- a statement that would invalidate what he told the grand jury.
The Commonwealth argued that it was in the best interest of all parties, including former assistant football coach Sandusky, to protect evidence relating to the case from being leaked, and asked the judges for a protective order to ensure that, according to court documents.
Sandusky, the former Penn State defensive coach, was convicted in June on 45 counts of sexually abusing boys he met through his charity, The Second Mile.
“What we are requesting is court orders,” Fina said, according to the transcripts. “One would be pertaining to grand jury information that again has not been disclosed during the course of the public proceedings at trial and a protective order over that information that it not be disseminated to any third parties without further order of the court.”
Three copies of the Matt Sandusky tape exist, one with the defense, one with the prosecution and one with Pennsylvania State Police, but Amendola vehemently denied leaking the tape to the media, according to court documents.
“We (the defense) have no reason to release that tape to the media to have them play that tape in which apparently [Matt Sandusky] says that his father committed inappropriate acts with him,” Amendola said, according to the transcript. “That’s certainly not in our best interest to reveal that. It makes no sense."
After Amendola said this, McGettigan jumped on the defense, saying that they also had no reason to comment on it to the media as Rominger did, according to court documents.
Rominger said he was asked about the tapes coming out of the prison, to which McGettigan said, “Sometimes the best counter is silence,” according to court documents.
The defense and the Commonwealth both raised the concern that certain members of the media were able to quote to them material which they, as attorneys, had, but had not been made public, according to court documents.
Cleland has already granted the protective order.
