Accuser of ex-Penn State coach Jerry Sandusky to recant testimony

An accuser of convicted child molester Jerry Sandusky is expected to recant testimony over a decade after the former Penn State football coach was jailed on child sex abuse charges, according to a report.Sandusky, now 82, will return to court Sept.8 for an evidentiary hearing after one of his accusers, who testified in his trial, is prepared to tell the court the retired Nittany Lions defensive coordinator did not abuse him — and that prosecutors swayed his previous testimony, ABC News reported.

The accuser, known as Victim 10, alleges that prosecutors coached him to steer his testimony, asking him to reframe and revisit his allegations, according to a sworn affidavit obtained by the outlet.Victim 10 added that throughout the pretrial process, prosecutors told him that trauma may have caused him to have a “fragmented” memory.“[t]hroughout the pretrial process, I was told — both directly and indirectly — that trauma may have fragmented my memory, and that I could safely affirm details I did not fully recall.

I was assured this was common and even expected,” the sworn affidavit said, according to ABC News.Prosecutors are expected to address allegations at the hearing.Sandusky’s defense team said in a motion seeking a new trial that Victim 10’s now-estranged wife was able to testify that he was not sexually abused by the ex-coach.The Pennsylvania Attorney General’s Office, however, said that the woman’s opinion on what she thinks may have happened to Victim 10 when he was 10 years old, or any other Sandusky child victim, was “irrelevant and inadmissible,” the outlet reported.Sandusky was convicted of 45 counts of child sex abuse in 2012 for sexually abusing 10 boys over the span of a decade.

In 2019, his 30-to 60-year prison sentence was reaffirmed by a judge.During his trial in 2012, victims testified that Sandusky subjected them to a spectrum of abuse, from grooming to violent attacks.The abuse, which took place from 1994 to 2009, involv...