'I wasn't a pedophile,' Sandusky testifies in retrial bid
Former Penn State assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky took the stand on Friday in a bid for a new trial and declared his innocence.
“I wasn’t a pedophile,” Sandusky said. “I wasn’t a preferential sex predator. I wasn’t the monster I was made out to be.” Philly.com and Pennlive.com have stories.
He also said the idea of oral and anal sex “is totally foreign to me,” and he had not engaged in it with anyone, including children.
Sandusky was the first witness in the Centre County, Pennsylvania, hearing on his claim that his trial lawyers provided an ineffective defense. Sandusky testified that the defense “was in chaos” and “there wasn’t time to discuss anything.”
Sandusky said his lawyer, Joe Amendola, talked him into giving an interview to Bob Costas in which Sandusky paused when asked if he was sexually attracted to young boys. Sandusky also said his lawyer talked him out of testifying.
Amendola defended himself in hearing testimony, saying Sandusky is “not a wimp” and “he made his own decisions.” Amendola asserted that the Bob Costas interview “generally went well,” but Sandusky’s pause “will haunt all of us forever.”
“I wanted to jump out of my chair because I knew Jerry and I had discussed this several times,” Amendola said.
Sandusky was convicted in June 2012 for sexually abusing 10 boys and was sentenced to 30 to 60 years in prison.
