Ryan Smith: Why would Sandusky waive hearing?
In court Tuesday, former Penn State assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky waived his right to a preliminary hearing.
Unless a plea deal is afoot, which is unlikely considering his lawyer's statements that a deal would mean a life sentence for Sandusky given his advanced age, this means the case will now be given a trial date. The burden for taking a case to trial, however, is very low. For example, one witness saying he allegedly saw a sexual assault (as assistant coach Mike McQuery said previously) can be enough to bind a case over for trial on that charge. All that is required is a "prima facie" case (an "on its face" case), and it is one of the lowest burdens of proof in our court system. Still, it is surprising that Sandusky waived this right. In a preliminary hearing, the burden of proof is on the prosecutors, so they have to start laying out their case against Sandusky. That means the defense gets a sneak peek at what the state plans to do at trial. Not only that, but the defense attorneys do not have to offer anything at this phase, so they don't risk tipping their hand. By waiving the preliminary hearing, Sandusky loses the benefit of knowing valuable details about the state's case against him. Did Sandusky think a preliminary hearing would further poison the community (and thus, the potential jury) against him, and didn't want to risk it? Did his defense team think the grand jury testimony was so strong against him that nothing in the preliminary hearing would have helped him avoid a trial? Whatever the motivation, when the case goes to trial, we will see whether Sandusky and his defense team made a good decision. UPDATE: Sandusky's attorney Joe Amendola says one reason that the preliminary hearing was waived is because prosecutors agreed to not increase bail. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Ryan Smith.
Unless a plea deal is afoot, which is unlikely considering his lawyer's statements that a deal would mean a life sentence for Sandusky given his advanced age, this means the case will now be given a trial date. The burden for taking a case to trial, however, is very low. For example, one witness saying he allegedly saw a sexual assault (as assistant coach Mike McQuery said previously) can be enough to bind a case over for trial on that charge. All that is required is a "prima facie" case (an "on its face" case), and it is one of the lowest burdens of proof in our court system. Still, it is surprising that Sandusky waived this right. In a preliminary hearing, the burden of proof is on the prosecutors, so they have to start laying out their case against Sandusky. That means the defense gets a sneak peek at what the state plans to do at trial. Not only that, but the defense attorneys do not have to offer anything at this phase, so they don't risk tipping their hand. By waiving the preliminary hearing, Sandusky loses the benefit of knowing valuable details about the state's case against him. Did Sandusky think a preliminary hearing would further poison the community (and thus, the potential jury) against him, and didn't want to risk it? Did his defense team think the grand jury testimony was so strong against him that nothing in the preliminary hearing would have helped him avoid a trial? Whatever the motivation, when the case goes to trial, we will see whether Sandusky and his defense team made a good decision. UPDATE: Sandusky's attorney Joe Amendola says one reason that the preliminary hearing was waived is because prosecutors agreed to not increase bail. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Ryan Smith.
