Jerry Sandusky: Defense Requests to Delay Trial

Just when it looks like the child sexual abuse case against former Penn State defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky can't get any stranger, a new wrinkle has been added to the trial. Sandusky and his defense team are now requesting a delay of the trial due to the introduction of new evidence, according to Sara Ganim of The Patriot-News.

Ganim is reporting that the court has requested the submission of the hard drive from Sandusky's computer, but the defense maintains that it would need $10,000 worth of equipment in order to read it for itself.

The trial is tentatively scheduled to begin on June 5, but according to Ganim's report, Sandusky's lawyer, Joe Amendola, doesn't believe that he will be able to adequately defend his client against 52 counts of child sex abuse unless the delay is granted.

All of this seems quite strange since hard drives are routinely submitted as evidence in trials without much of an issue. Apparently, Sandusky's defense team wants to be able to read the hard drive as well in order to defend against whatever incriminating evidence it might contain, but its request for a delay seems like it's more about posturing than anything.

The defense has continually drawn things out throughout this process, and this seems to be another instance of that. It will be interesting to see if the judge buys the insistence that the defense can't read what is on its client's own computer, but at this point, it seems to be grasping at straws.