Jerry Sandusky's lawyer first said he knew the identity of the Penn State shower victim—the one whose assault was witnessed by former PSU assistant coach Mike McQueary and never reported by university officials—all the way back in November, a few weeks after Sandusky's arrest. That victim, known to the world as Victim 2, never testified at Sandusky's trial. In July, one month after Sandusky was convicted, a man claiming to be Victim 2 came forward through his lawyers, who also announced the man's intention to sue Penn State. And earlier this month, one of the man's lawyers told the Scranton Times-Tribune he had no idea why the attorney general's office never called his client to testify, and that the AG's office never even had discussions with them about testifying. But as Sara Ganim noted the other day, prosecutors continue to maintain that Victim 2 still has not been identified. Now we may know why.
Ganim's report also noted that the man who claims to be Victim 2 initially gave a statement saying Sandusky never abused him, only to later change his story. Karl Rominger, Sandusky's beer-buying lawyer, said the defense never called the man during the trial because there was too much risk in doing so. In response to Ganim's report, Tom Farrell, the lawyer for Gary Schultz, one of the two Penn State administrators awaiting trial for perjury and failure to report abuse, issued a statement. This is what it said, in part:
"Discovery provided to us shows that the individual's story changed from interview to interview and even conflicted with the version of events his own attorneys described. When requested to diagram the Lasch building locker room and shower, the individual created a drawing that did not match reality.
"After a fourth interview in April 2012 at which [his attorney, Andrew Shubin] attempted to provide the agents with yet another version of events that Mr. Shubin himself hand wrote, the agents, to their credit, refused to have anything more to do with Mr. Shubin or his client."
That, in turn, brought this response from the man's attorneys:
"Conspicuously absent from Mr. Farrell's statement is the fact that Jerry Sandusky himself, and his defense team, identified our client, and no one else on earth, as the boy who Mike McQueary saw in the shower with Jerry Sandusky.
"Mr. Farrell's comments are nothing more than a regurgitation of Jerry Sandusky's failed defense strategy attacking his victims, many of whom initially denied being abused. As Mr. Farrell should know, and should have considered before issuing his public statement, initial denials are commonplace for victims of sexual abuse."
In sum, we have Sandusky's defense team saying they know Victim 2's identity. The man they've identified and his lawyers say the man is indeed Victim 2. But the prosecution still says Victim 2 is unknown. All of this will eventually get sorted out during the man's civil trial/settlement negotiations. What's known is what we knew already: that Sandusky was convicted on four of five counts (including indecent assault) involving Victim 2 based solely on McQueary's testimony. Well, that and Sandusky's legal dream team has now officially filed an appeal of his conviction, which you can read below.
Attorney: Sandusky still assaulted Victim 2 on campus after McQueary went to officials [Scranton Times-Tribune]
Attorney for Gary Schultz attacks credibility of man claiming to be Jerry Sandusky's Victim 2 [Patriot-News]