Judge rules Sandusky defense must receive data on accusers

Prosecutors must give defense lawyers the phone numbers, addresses, and juvenile arrest records of Jerry Sandusky's eight accusers before the former Pennsylvania State University assistant football coach's trial in May, the judge handling the case ruled Tuesday.

In an order filed in Centre County Court, Judge John Cleland limited those disclosures to crimes that could be used to attack the purported victims' credibility in court, and excluded documentation of past drug- or alcohol-related offenses.

Cleland also set a seven-day deadline for prosecutors to explain why psychological evaluations of some of the young men who claim Sandusky sexually assaulted them should not be made available to his defense.

"The Commonwealth has not asserted . . . that any communications made by an alleged victim were made within a treatment relationship with a therapist and that the communications were confidential," the judge wrote.

Cleland's ruling comes a week after Sandusky's attorney, Joseph Amendola, requested access to documents that he maintains will prove his client was set up by his accusers. Many of the purported victims knew one another and were in contact during the period in which they were testifying before a state grand jury last year, Amendola said in court filings.

Others have juvenile records that might call their testimony into question. At least one visited a psychologist who later determined that it was unlikely that the boy had been sexually abused, the lawyer said.

That boy - identified in court filings as "Victim 6" - was at the center of a 1998 investigation in which his mother maintained that Sandusky had inappropriately touched her child in a locker-room shower. Then-Centre County District Attorney Ray Gricar declined to press charges at the time.

But prosecutors have argued that the findings of the boy's psychologist should fall under doctor-client privilege, even though their relationship began as part of a criminal investigation. Likewise, they have said, the accusers' juvenile arrest records should be protected under state law.

In his ruling Tuesday, Cleland said he was inclined to grant Amendola access to the psychological report but cautioned that if he granted the lawyer's request, the records would be placed under seal and could be referenced in court only with the judge's advance permission.

Sandusky, 68, has denied allegations he assaulted 10 boys over a 15-year period. He remains confined to his State College home while he awaits trial in May.