Former Penn State University assistant coach, Jerry Sandusky speaks to NBC's Bob Costas in a Rock Center exclusive interview.? Sandusky was charged earlier this month with 40 criminal counts accusing him of sexual abuse of minors.
By msnbc.com staff and news services
The lawyer for Jerry Sandusky on Wednesday asked for a delay in the former Penn State assistant football coach's June 5 trial on 52 counts of child sex-abuse trial.
Defense attorney Joe Amendola argued in a 13-page motion that he needed more time to prepare or he would be "unable to effectively and adequately" represent Sandusky.
Amendola said he was still waiting for material from prosecutors.
The attorney?s request came before a court hearing on evidence, the Harrisburg Patriot-News reported.
Matt Rourke / AP
Joe Amendola, attorney for Jerry Sandusky, is shown last month outside of the Centre County Courthouse in Bellefonte, Pa.
Judge John Cleland has previously indicated he was reluctant to push back the trial, to be held in Bellefonte, Penn., The Associated Press reported.
It wasn't immediately clear when Cleland would rule on the delay motion.
Amendola said in his motion the defense team needs more time to find and interview witnesses.
Pending criminal charges against two potential witnesses, Penn State administrators Gary Schultz and Tim Curley, have made them unavailable as witnesses in June, Amendola?s motion also said.
Lawyers for Curley, the school's athletic director now on leave, and Schultz, the retired vice president who supervised campus police, have indicated their clients will invoke their Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination and refuse to testify if called.
A spokesman for the state attorney general's office declined to comment. Cleland has imposed a partial gag order on lawyers in the case.
Matt Rourke / AP
Jerry Sandusky, former Penn State assistant football coach, is shown leaving Centre County Courthouse in Bellefonte, Penn., last month.
Sandusky, 68, is confined to his State College home to await the start of his trial involving 10 boys over age 15. Sandusky has denied the allegations.
In a separate motion, Amendola asked Cleland to direct prosecutors to provide paper copies of computer records he has been given, including phone records taken from the office of former Penn State coach Joe Paterno.
The Wednesday hearing was expected to be mainly about the use of defense subpoenas, as school districts and government agencies have asked Cleland to throw them out. Keystone Central School District, for example, home of a Sandusky accuser known as ?Victim One,? argued in an April 30 motion that defense has not set out legitimate arguments for release of their student's counseling and academic records, the Patriot-News reported.
The charges against Sandusky concern his relationships with boys he met through his charity for at-risk kids, The Second Mile, between 1994 and 2008. At least some of the alleged abuse happened in the Penn State football team's facilities, prosecutors said. One of the alleged attacks was witnessed by former receivers coach Mike McQueary, then a graduate assistant. The ensuing scandal led to the firing of Paterno and the ouster of university President Graham Spanier.
On Monday, prosecutors said an alleged locker-room shower assault by Sandusky on a boy known in court documents as ?Victim Two? took place around Feb. 9, 2001, about a year earlier than they first claimed. The date change may not affect the Sandusky prosecution, legal experts said, but it could mean the statute of limitations expired for related charges against Tim Curley, the athletic director who is on leave, and Gary Schultz, a university vice president who has retired. The two are fighting allegations that they lied to a grand jury and failed to properly report suspected child abuse. The date change affects the failure to report charges, their lawyer said.
This article includes reporting by The Associated Press.
NBC's Michelle Franzen reports live at the pre-trial hearing for Jerry Sandusky, who is accused of sexually abusing 10 boys over a 15 year period.
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