Appeals Panel Denies Sandusky's Request for New Trial

By Mark Scolforo

The Associated Press

HARRISBURG, Pa.

Former Penn State assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky should not get a new trial after being convicted of sexually abusing 10 boys, a state appeals court ruled Wednesday.

The unanimous decision by a three-judge Superior Court panel came barely two weeks after they heard oral arguments by Sandusky's lawyer and a state prosecutor.

Defense lawyer Norris Gelman said he planned to ask the state Supreme Court to review the case.

Sandusky had argued that his trial lawyers did not have time to prepare, a prosecutor made improper references to his not testifying, and the judge mishandled two jury instructions.

The opinion by Judge Jack Panella said that trial judges have discretion about whether to allow pretrial delays and that in Sandusky's case, the judge carefully considered the continuance requests.

Sandusky had wanted the trial judge, John Cleland, to give jurors an instruction about the amount of time it took for nearly all of the accusers to report their allegations.

A spokesman for the Attorney General's Office said the decision affirmed prosecutors' position about the strength and weight of the evidence against Sandusky.

Sandusky, 69, is serving a 30- to 60-year sentence at a state prison in southwestern Pennsylvania.

If he does not get the convictions overturned, he is likely to die in prison.