Jerry Sandusky testified Friday in an attempt to overturn his 2012 conviction. He says he never harmed the 10 boys he was found guilty of molesting.
In an attempt to overthrow his 2012 conviction, Jerry Sandusky testified Friday that he never harmed the 10 boys he was found guilty of molesting, saying that the charges were “disgusting and dirty.”
"Absolutely not. ... That idea was totally foreign to me. That [sexual contact with children] is disgusting and dirty, and something that I never would have thought of, and something that I never did with anybody,” the former Penn State assistant football coach and convicted serial sexual predator said on the stand, PennLive.com reported.
He also denied ever having anal sex, saying, “Absolutely not. Not with nobody.”
Sandusky, 72, argued during the appeals hearing — in which he hopes to have his 45-count conviction thrown out or to secure a new trial — that he wasn’t property represented by his original legal team, calling his defense “chaotic.”
He testified that his then-defense lawyer Joe Amendola pushed him to do an NBC TV interview with virtually no notice.
"I had no idea what was going to happen," he said of the interview, in which many felt Sandusky’s attempts to tell his side of the story came across as conciliatory of boundary issues with children.
“I shouldn’t have showered with those kids,” Sandusky reportedly said when broadcaster Bob Costas asked if anything he did was wrong.
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"I didn't expect anything to happen,” Sandusky said Friday. “I was not in a very good emotional state based on everything that had happened with all the people who were dear to me."
He also testified that his legal team strongly advised him against taking the stand for fear that his adopted son, Matt Sandusky, would then testify for the prosecution.
But Sandusky said he should have testified regardless, claiming he had “ample evidence” to refute his son’s testimony, which he claimed Amendola did not consider.
During the hearing, which is expected to last three days, Sandusky plans to describe conversations with his lawyers concerning the identity of the young man identified only as "Victim 2" in court records. He is also expected to talk about allegations of abuse made outside court at the time of trial by Matt Sandusky, according to a filing his attorneys made this week viewed by the Associated Press.
A spokesman for the attorney general’s office told AP prosecutors they consider Sandusky’s claims to be meritless and are ready for his testimony.
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Though he did not testify during his trial, Sandusky spoke during his sentencing, reportedly saying he did not commit “these alleged disgusting acts" and that he hoped “something good will come out of this.”
“I've forgiven; I've been forgiven," he said during his sentencing. "I've comforted others; I've been comforted. I've been kissed by dogs; I've been bit by dogs. I've conformed; I've also been different. I've been me. I've been loved; I've been hated."
He also testified by video during a January 2014 hearing to reinstate his $4,900-a-month pension. He was ultimately successful.
Though he previously lost direct appeals to the state's Supreme and Superior courts, Sandusky’s new appeal hearing falls under the state's Post-Conviction Relief Act and is confined to newly discovered evidence, constitutional violations and ineffective lawyering.
Sandusky is currently serving 30 to 60 years in Greene State Prison.
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