Sandusky lawyer ends bid to drop charges

STATE COLLEGE, Pa., April 5 (UPI) -- The lawyer for former Penn State assistant football Coach Jerry Sandusky Thursday withdrew his request that child sex abuse charges against Sandusky be dropped.

Joe Amendola, Sandusky's lawyer, withdrew his pretrial requests, including that charges be dropped, but reserved the right to refile them, the Harrisburg (Pa.) Patriot-News reported.

The pretrial hearing was at the Centre County Courthouse in Bellefonte.

Sandusky, 68, faces 52 criminal charges for alleged sexually abusing 10 boys during a 15-year span. He is confined to home while awaiting trial and has repeatedly denied the charges.

Other requests in the all-inclusive pretrial motion included whether to allow prosecutors to use items from a search of Sandusky's home and whether Sandusky should be provided more information about the details of the allegations.

Also, motions to suppress evidence were withdrawn when the defense said a search warrant and tapped phone calls were legal, the Patriot-News reported.

Prosecutor Joseph McGettigan III told the judge the grand jury investigation was still ongoing and uncharged crimes would not be introduced at trial, the State College Centre Daily Times reported. McGettigan also said prosecutor won't introduce at trial any grand jury testimony it kept from the defense by citing grand jury secrecy.

Defense attorneys and prosecutors agreed that prospective jurors should be questioned individually and sequestered during the trial. Judge John Cleland did not rule on those matters.

Sandusky's trial is June 5.

Meanwhile, Penn State trustees and Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett say the governor did not order trustees to fire late head football coach Joe Paterno.

An ESPN story quoted a former football player as saying Corbett had told the board to fire Paterno last year in the wake of Sandusky's arrest.

Corbett denies having directly ordered Paterno's dismissal, the Centre Daily Times said.