Despite Sandusky motion, Tuesday court hearing will proceed
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Jerry Sandusky has withdrawn the portion of his pending post-conviction petition based on the recantation of a man identified at his 2012 trial as Victim 10.
While Sandusky has withdrawn his portion of the petition, a notice received Friday by the Pennsylvania court system states the hearing is still on. The hearing is limited to examining Victim 10's recantation and the circumstances surrounding it and will be heard by Judge Maureen Skerda, retired Court of Common Pleas judge in Warren County.
“Following a status conference – Friday, September 4, 2026 – in the matter of Commonwealth vs. Gerald A. SANDUSKY, the hearing scheduled for Tuesday, September 8, 2026, WILL PROCEED AS SCHEDULED,” the notice states. “The hearing will be held in Courtroom 1 of the Centre County Courthouse, commencing at 9:30 a.m. The defendant will appear REMOTELY. An Order of Court, issued by Senior Judge Maureen Skerda, will be forthcoming.”
In a statement to The Post-Journal and Warren Times Observer, Sandusky said he had instructed his lawyers to cancel the September 8 evidentiary hearing and ask the Centre County court for a final order on his Post Conviction Relief Act petition so that he could take his case to federal court.
"Over the years, I have brought fifteen serious issues before Pennsylvania's courts, each one showing I deserve a new trial. Every one was swatted down. I have no faith this one would be treated differently, no matter how compelling the evidence," Sandusky said in a statement to The Post-Journal. "In federal court, every one of those issues can be heard together, by judges who have not already made up their minds about me. That is overwhelmingly more important than any single hearing in Centre County, and I need to get there as fast as possible. I am 82 years old. I am innocent. I intend to be alive when the truth is heard."
Victim 10, identified in recent court documents by the initials R.R., signed an affidavit in June 2025 stating that Sandusky did not sexually abuse him. He also alleged that prosecutors and others involved in preparing him for the 2012 trial influenced his testimony through suggestive questioning and repeated discussions about memories fragmented by trauma. The Pennsylvania Office of Attorney General has said that the supposed recantation is "highly suspect."
Sandusky's attorneys incorporated the affidavit into an amended petition filed in June 2026. The Pennsylvania Attorney General's Office subsequently described the recantation as "highly suspect."
The defense's decision to withdraw the claim does not mean that Victim 10 has withdrawn his affidavit or reversed his recantation. Instead, Sandusky's attorneys have chosen not to continue seeking relief on that particular ground in the current state-court proceeding.
"Nothing has been abandoned," said Frank Parlato, an investigator and spokesperson for Sandusky. "Ryan Rittmeyer stands by his affidavit, and I expect he and others will testify in federal court. The only thing that changed is where."
The move appears designed to accelerate appellate review of the remaining claims in Sandusky's petition. His attorneys have asked the Centre County court to issue a final order addressing those claims, which would allow the defense to pursue appeals in Pennsylvania and, eventually, seek review in federal court.
Among the remaining allegations are claims that prosecutors had an undisclosed financial interest connected to a witness's civil settlement and that evidence favorable to the defense was never disclosed before Sandusky's trial. Those allegations have not been adjudicated in Sandusky's favor, and prosecutors have disputed his continuing challenges to the conviction.
Parlato said the court had declined to consider those claims at the September 8 hearing.
"The court limited the hearing to one claim and refused to hear the others--the prosecutors' financial interest in a witness's settlement, and the evidence withheld from the defense," Parlato said. "Mr. Sandusky is 82. He was not willing to spend a year litigating one claim in a court that wouldn't hear the rest."
"Recantation is disfavored in Pennsylvania, and the Attorney General's office has already told the public what it thinks of this one," Parlato said. "There was no path to a fair hearing on it in Centre County. A final order lets every claim go to federal court together."
Asked about the Attorney General's characterization of the recantation as suspect, Parlato said: "Mr. Rittmeyer gained nothing by coming forward and exposed himself to a great deal. The Attorney General's office has never explained what he would gain by lying now."
A Centre County jury convicted the former Penn State assistant football coach in 2012 on 45 counts involving the sexual abuse of boys. He was sentenced to 30 to 60 years in prison and has consistently maintained his innocence.