Jerry Sandusky Scandal: Spouse's Planned Interview Latest Baffling Decision

Jerry Sandusky and his defense team seem intent on crippling their case. Every time the disgraced former coach opens his mouth, he only serves to affirm the heinous charges levied against him.

This baffling strategy seems set to continue as an announcement that Sandusky's wife, Dottie, is considering going on air with her husband to assert his innocence.

The Latest Planned Interview

Sara Ganim of the Harrisburg Patriot-News shares the details of the plans for the couple to do a joint interview.

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Sandusky's attorney, Joe Amendola, said Dottie Sandusky doesn't have an attorney and sees no need for one. The couple is considering speaking together publicly after the new year, Amendola said—either to Oprah Winfrey, to the CBS show 60 Minutes, to NBC's Rock Center or to ABC's Barbara Walters.

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Dottie's Stance

Dottie maintains her husband's innocence.

In a statement, provided by the Associated Press, released through her husband's attorney on December 8th, Dottie had this to say:

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I continue to believe in Jerry’s innocence and all the good things he has done. Jerry’s many success stories with his Second Mile kids and positive memories of those kids keep me going. I am asking everyone to please be reasonable and open-minded until both sides of this case are heard, and Jerry has the opportunity to prove his innocence.

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Whether she actually believes her husband is innocent or not, she is not likely to help her husband's case by subjecting herself to an interview.

Given the way that Jerry's past interviews have gone, it is shocking that his lawyer would let him anywhere near another one.

Mind-Bending Failure of the Defense's Strategy

First there was Jerry Sandusky's phone-in interview with Bob Costas.

Then there was his lengthy two-day interview with the New York Times.

Amendola was present for both of these interviews, and he did little to stop or steer his client from making statements that have found him getting destroyed in the press and in the court of public opinion.

This strategy is being questioned by the public and other lawyers.

Larry McMichael, a partner at Dilworth Paxon, spoke with Donald Gilliland of The Patriot-News earlier this month about his thoughts of the defense's strategy. It is safe to say that he does not agree with the strategy. McMichael:

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I would not do what he’s doing. I would probably tell [Sandusky] to shut up, go away and hide, and focus on a really good defense.

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This is a sentiment sure to be shared by almost any lawyer. Defendants simply don't open themselves up to these kinds of interviews while they are on trial. Jerry Sandusky is proving why.

The former coach digs his hole deeper with every statement, and yet here they are planning another interview—this time with his wife in tow.

Now there will be not just incriminating statements made by Sandusky, but impossible-to-believe denials by a wife who was in the house where numerous alleged attacks took place. 

Maybe there is as unseen master plan by the defense, but it is hard to see the merits of this self-defeating strategy.