Jerry Sandusky Asks Court to Let Him See Grandkids
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Courtesy Christine Cornell(BELLEFONTE, Pa.) — Former Penn State football coach Jerry Sandusky dismissed allegations Friday that he has been leering at school children from his back porch and argued that he should be allowed to visit at least with his grandchildren while under house arrest for child molestation charges.
Sandusky said after a Pennsylvania court hearing that he should be able to see his grandsons, who have begged for the chance to talk to “Pop” on the phone since he was arrested last year and charged with 50 counts of child sex abuse.
Sandusky’s attorney, Joe Amendola, asked a Pennsylvania court Friday to loosen Sandusky’s bail terms to allow visitation with his grandchildren. Sandusky, following the hearing, said his grandkids had been begging his wife, Dottie, to be allowed to visit with him.
He also fought off charges by the prosecution that he was endangering children by sitting on his back porch, which is 100 yards from an elementary school. A neighbor and parents from the school had complained that Sandusky was too close to the children, but Sandusky and his attorney dismissed the claim.
Judge John Cleland said that he would rule on the requests from both the defense and the prosecution quickly, perhaps by next week.
Chief among the other issues Cleland will decide is whether Sandusky’s trial, set for May 14, should be moved to a different venue. The prosecution has argued that because of Sandusky’s connections to Penn State and the charity The Second Mile, potential jurors in Centre County with connections to those two organizations would be biased. A more objective jury could be found elsewhere, they said.
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