By Ben Present
Of the Legal Staff
The sentencing of Jerry Sandusky, the former Penn State assistant football coach convicted of a slew of sex crimes, will take place on October 9 immediately following a hearing to determine whether he is a sexually violent predator.
Sandusky faces more than 400 years in prison for 45 counts of abuse.
Senior Judge John M. Cleland, the judge presiding over Sandusky’s legal proceeding, issued an order Monday to announce the sentencing. Sandusky’s attorneys and prosecutors will meet with the judge in chambers the day before Cleland hands down his sentence.
Sandusky’s arrest and criminal proceedings have driven a spotlight to Central Pennsylvania, where Sandusky spent more than a decade preying on fatherless boys and abusing them in Penn State football facilities and his own home.
Eight victims, between the ages of 18 and 28, testified at Sandusky’s June trial that the former defensive coach molested them, some dozens of times. His attorneys contested the accusers were coached by police and prosecutors and eventually conspired in the hopes of scoring windfall civil judgments.
Sandusky’s attorneys have publicly stated they plan to appeal his conviction and subsequent judgment of sentence. Discovery orders and the amount of time the attorneys had to mount a defense are two possible issues for the appeal, if press statements made by Sandusky’s attorneys are any indicator.
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