Damaging comments by a lawyer for Jerry Sandusky could help the convicted Penn State child molester on appeal, veteran New York defense lawyers said yesterday.
“He had an ethical obligation to represent his client as zealously as possible,” said Manhattan defense lawyer Lori Cohen. “It’s hard to reconcile a zealous defense with his public comments.”
In a shocking statement before the verdict, Sandusky’s defense attorney Joe Amendola said he’d “die of a heart attack” if his client were acquitted of all charges.
“That’s just crazy,” said Douglas Burns, a defense lawyer with 26 years in the courtroom. “A lawyer has got to keep his cards close to his vest and not make comments like that.”
Hours after the football coach’s conviction on 45 counts of child sexual abuse, Amendola praised the prosecution for handling the case in an “exemplary manner” and said he didn’t “have any problem with the jury’s verdict.”
If Sandusky, 68, hires another attorney, claiming that Amendola was ineffective could benefit him on appeal.
Indeed, it appeared Sandusky’s defense did little to sway jurors.
Juror Joshua Harper told NBC News that “we were all on the same page” in their decision to convict Sandusky on all counts.
“I just looked at him during the reading of the verdict,” Harper said on the “Today” show. “The look on his face with no real emotion — he was just accepting it because it was true.”
Burns said there’s a 60 percent chance a claim of “ineffective counsel” could help Sandusky.
The new lawyer would have to prove that Amendola’s defense of the case was below legal standards, and that an effective defense could have ended up in a not-guilty verdict.
Sandusky, who was on suicide watch yesterday, faces a sentence of up to 442 years when he’s sentenced in three months. Amendola has already promised to appeal.
He and Sandusky’s other attorney, Karl Rominger, said yesterday they requested to withdraw from the case before the trial, but were turned down.
“We told the trial court, the Superior Court and the Supreme Court we were not prepared to proceed to trial in June due to numerous issues,” Amendola said.