Jerry Sandusky Accuser to Recant Testimony in Court
One of the most high-profile criminal cases of the 21st century has taken an unexpected turn.
According to the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, 82-year-old former Penn State assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky, convicted in 2012 of sexually abusing up to 10 boys, will receive an evidentiary hearing on Sept. 8.
In 2025, one of the alleged victims who originally testified against Sandusky chose to recant his testimony.
The alleged victim, known as R.R. in the court filings, was one of eight accusers who testified in 2012 that Sandusky had sexually abused them, in some cases violently, when they were children.
R.R. will testify at the Sept. 8 hearing, as will his estranged wife, described by the Tribune-Review as “a Sandusky family investigator and a trial prosecutor.”
According to ABC News, R.R., originally known as Victim 10, has already signed a sworn affidavit.
“Throughout the pretrial process,” the affidavit read, “I was told — both directly and indirectly — that trauma may have fragmented my memory, and that I could safely affirm details I did not fully recall. I was assured this was common and even expected.”
Based on these new details, including the anticipated testimony from Victim 10’s estranged wife, Sandusky’s defense team has filed a motion for a new trial.
Meanwhile, the Pennsylvania Attorney General’s office likely will address these developments at the hearing.
Prosecutors with that office, however, responded to the defense’s motion by asserting that the estranged wife’s opinion “thirteen years after defendant’s trial, pondering what she thinks may or may not have really happened to [Victim 10] when he was 10 years old, or any other Sandusky child victim for that matter, is irrelevant and inadmissible.”
According to the Centre County Historical Society, a grand jury indicted Sandusky in 2011 following a two-year investigation.
Based on that investigation, prosecutors said that Sandusky used The Second Mile, a charity for at-risk youth founded by the coach in 1977, to target and groom his victims.
In June 2012, a jury convicted Sandusky on 45 of 48 counts pertaining to child sex abuse. The octogenarian is now serving a 30-to-60-year prison sentence at Laurel Highlands state prison in Somerset County.
In the years since the scandal, Penn State has paid out more than $109 million to 35 alleged victims.
Sandusky played defensive end at Penn State from 1963 to 1965. He then spent 30 years on legendary coach Joe Paterno’s coaching staff.
In fact, from 1977 to 1999, Sandusky served as defensive coordinator for one of the country’s most successful college football programs. The Nittany Lions won national championships in 1982 and 1986 while boasting a ferocious defense under Sandusky’s tutelage.
Penn State’s Board of Trustees fired Paterno on Nov. 9, 2011, shortly after Sandusky’s arrest. The legendary coach died of lung cancer two months later.
The university has not commented on the upcoming hearing.
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