Jerry Sandusky to Be Resentenced

Jerry Sandusky lost a bid for a new trial Tuesday, but a Pennsylvania appeals court ordered him to be resentenced for a 45-count child molestation conviction, the AP reports. The former Penn State assistant football coach was sentenced in 2012 to 30 to 60 years, but a Superior Court panel said that included the improper application of mandatory minimums. In a 119-page opinion, the appeals panel struck down argument after argument that lawyers for Sandusky, 75, had made in seeking a new trial. His defense lawyer, Al Lindsay, said he was disappointed but will ask the state's highest court to reconsider. Lindsay said he was unsure if the new sentencing is likely to result in a substantially different sentence. "I suppose it depends on the judge and what happens before the sentencing and after the sentencing," Lindsay said. He called the case "one of the most profound injustices in the history of American jurisprudence."

Dauphin County District Attorney Fran Chardo, a veteran prosecutor not involved in the Sandusky case, said the county judge will have a lot of discretion, up to the statutory maximum, when the resentencing occurs. He was unsure how the sentence will be affected. "It may very well result in a lesser aggregate, but not necessarily," Chardo said. "It remains to be seen." Sandusky had filed an ambitious appeal that argued a range of flaws occurred in the investigation, trial and sentencing, but the three-judge appeals ruled against all of them before granting him a new sentencing hearing. Lindsay said Sandusky, who has consistently maintained his innocence, asked him to release a statement vowing to "not rest until the public understands what has happened and decision-makers acknowledge the injustice." (One of Sandusky's sons pleaded guilty to child sex abuse.)