Sandusky pretrial hearing set for Wednesday afternoon

A hearing is set for this afternoon in the case of former Penn State assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky, whose trial on 52 child sexual abuse counts starts next week.

Sandusky’s attorney, Joe Amendola, said Sandusky won’t be at the hearing today. Judge John Cleland planned proceeding to take care of any remaining matters.

This could be the final hearing before Sandusky’s trial on child sex abuse charges. The 68-year-old former Penn State defensive coordinator denies the allegations.
 
Sandusky’s lawyers and state prosecutors will begin picking jurors from a pool of residents of the State College area on Tuesday.

   
Still unresolved are a defense effort to have the charges dismissed and motions by four alleged victims to have their identities protected.

Yesterday, four of the accusers asked a judge to prevent their names from being made public.

   
Lawyers for so-called victims 3, 5 and 7 filed motions Tuesday asking Judge John Cleland to prevent identities of alleged victims from being disclosed publicly.
   
Lawyers for Victim 4 are asking for a pseudonym to be used for him during the upcoming trial.
   
The lawyers for Victims 3 and 7 say Sandusky’s lawyer isn’t opposed, but they haven’t heard back from state prosecutors.
   
Victim 4’s lawyers say his psychologist is worried about what effect disclosure of his name will have on his well-being.

Cleland’s also expected at Wednesday’s pretrial hearing to issue a decorum order that will address issues raised by the widespread public interest and media attention the case has generated.

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