Knowing When to Shut Up: Defense's Statements After the Sandusky Verdict

So first I watched Sandusky do the perp walk from the courthouse to the police car.  Reporters were shouting questions at him and I half-expected him to yell something.  But he did not and I watched a broken man leave, knowing he will died in prison.  I know there are people calling - facetiousl;y - for him to be placed in the general population of the prison, but they will not do that.  His life expectancy is  lessened anyway, if not from some inmate looking to garner a little publicity from himself then from defeat and depression.

The real entertainment came when Sandusky's lead attorney, Joe Amendola, spoke to the cameras.  Here is what I expected:

We are disappointed in the outcome, as you can imagine.  At this time, we are exploring all avenues for appeal.   No further comments.  Thank you.

And walk away . . .

But with a crowd unsympathetic to him behind Amendola, he went on to praise the job that District Attorney and congratulate them after saying he was going to appeal - appeal on what basis?  It sounds as if what they are going to say is that they had inadequate time to prepare for trial.  He had made a motion for a continuance at some point and was denied, so the only appeal I can see is that the judge committed an abuse of discretion in denying the motion.  Good luck with that, it is not going anywhere.

The real interesting part came with the discussion of Matt Sandusky.  Amendola felt compelled to offer why Sandusky did not testify in his behalf.  First, most defendants do not, as they would prefer to keep their 5th Amendment right against self-incrimination intact and not be asked point-blank in cross-examination:  did you rape that child?  Remember that if Sandusky were to have taken the stand, the DA gets a shot at him.  And as his interview with Bob Costas showed, Jerry's choice of words do not always work out for him.

But Amendola explained that he was aware he had said that Sandusky would testify in his opening statements.  So it seemed to me that Amendola was more concerned about explaining away that gaffe by mentioning the fact that in the 11th hour, Matt Sandusky, one of Sandusky's adopted sons, was ready to testify that his father had molested him.  And that the DA would call him as a rebuttal witness to anything Sandusky would say on the stand.

"I objected," explained Amendola. "I indicated that our whole case was predicated with Jerry testifying. Jerry had always wanted to testify However, the next day, the Commonwealth attorney advised me he would not call Matt Sandusky...that it would reserve the right to call him as a rebuttal witness depending on whatever evidence we presented. That created a real dilemma for us, because now if we call Jerry Sandusky as a witness, it would have resulted in the Commonwealth being permitted to call Matt Sandusky at rebuttal.


"We decided as a little strategy position that to put Jerry on the stand, to set him up to have Matt come in to this jury and testify against him, would have absolutely destroyed whatever chances at acquittal. He reluctantly agreed not to testify."

To be frank, those chances had already been destroyed.  In a subsequent interview with Anderson Cooper, Amendola stated that he had intended to call Matt as a defense witness, but as to why Matt's had a sudden change in his position, Amendola explained that  by saying Dottie Sandusky and the rest of the family told him that Matt "always had mental issues."  Ah, so Matt is a fine, upstanding young man when he is on his father's side - but now he is not to be believed because he is crazy.  

Stay classy, Joe.

I loved the peanut gallery behind him, though.  When asked if the verdicts proved his client was "sick," and Amendola said no, the crowd erupted in a chorus of boos.  When Amendola stated his client was likely to die in prison, the crowd started cheering.  At what point would you realize, it's time to shut the hell up, and move away?

Just who here has the Histrionic Personality Disorder anyway?