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Jerry Sandusky Trial: Defense Asks For Charges To Be Dismissed

Just under two months before the beginning of jury selection for Jerry Sandusky's sexual abuse trial, his defense has, according to Adam Smeltz of StateCollege.com, filed a motion to dismiss 40 of the 52 counts that Sandusky has been charged with. Sandusky's lead attorney, Joseph Amendola, argued in the motion to dismiss that the prosecution has failed to show sufficient evidence to proceed on the majority of the counts against Sandusky.

There are 10 alleged victims in the Sandusky case, and in his 95-page motion, Amendola asked for charges involving nine of the ten victims should be dropped. Amendola also requested that the trial be pushed back because some key defense witnesses are unavailable to testify in May, when the trial is set to begin. Additionally, Penn State administrators Tim Curley and Gary Schultz, who could be key to Sandusky's defense, will invoke their Fifth Amendment rights to not incriminate themselves if called to testify before their own perjury trials.

The entire motion can be found at the Centre County website (PDF).

UPDATE: StateCollege.com is now saying the defense has filed for all charges to be thrown out, correcting its earlier report.

For more on the Nittany Lions, please visit Black Shoe Diaries, SB Nation's Penn State blog.

Photographs by dizfunk used in background montage under Creative Commons. Thank you.