FILE – In this Nov. 22, 2019, file photo, former Penn State University assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky, center, arrives at the Centre County Courthouse to be resentenced in Bellefonte, Pa. Jerry Sandusky’s legal effort to have his decadeslong child molestation sentence reduced will be the subject of a hearing Tuesday, Jan. 28, 2020, in a Pennsylvania courtroom. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar, File)
Jerry Sandusky’s legal effort to have his decadeslong child molestation sentence reduced will be the subject of a hearing Tuesday in a Pennsylvania courtroom.
The former Penn State assistant football coach’s defense lawyers and state prosecutors are expected to argue about whether Judge Maureen Skerda should reconsider his 30- to 60-year term for sexual abuse of 10 boys.
A state appeals court ordered Sandusky resentenced last year, resulting in Skerda’s decision in November to impose the same sentence Sandusky had received after his 2012 trial.
His arrest in 2011 led days later to the firing of Hall of Fame head coach Joe Paterno, and the university subsequently paid more than $100 million to people who said they had been abused by Sandusky.
In a filing early last month, Sandusky’s defense lawyers argued there were multiple factors that should result in a shorter prison term, including their client’s background, upbringing and positive impact on others. They said the total sentence was “manifestly excessive.”
Sandusky, 76, was convicted of 45 criminal counts, although he maintains he was wrongly convicted.
“I apologize that I’m unable to admit remorse for this because it’s something that I didn’t do,” Sandusky told Skerda in November.
During the November resentencing hearing, the attorney general’s office described problems Sandusky has had in state prison, including disputes about returning a meal tray, resistance to being moved from his cell and complaints about phone calls.
By MARK SCOLFORO
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