Sandusky case heads to trial after hearing waived

BELLEFONTE, Pa (Reuters) - Former Penn State University assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky on Tuesday abruptly waived his right to a preliminary hearing on child sex abuse charges, meaning his case will go straight to trial.

No date has been set for a trial, which could be several months or even over a year away.

The move was the latest twist in a case that has shaken the prestigious university in central Pennsylvania, and prompted a string of investigations into how the football culture at Penn State might have contributed to the scandal and its fallout.

Sandusky also waived an arraignment hearing scheduled for January 11, 2012 and the next hearing in the case will be on March 22, 2012, the court website said.

Even as the courtroom drama was unfolding, a U.S. Senate subcommittee was preparing to hold a hearing on whether to tighten requirements on reporting child abuse.

Sandusky, 67, has maintained his innocence on 52 charges of molesting 10 boys over more than a decade.

"We are not in any way conceding guilt. Today's decision was a tactical measure," Joe Amendola, Sandusky's defense attorney, told reporters outside the courtroom.

Tuesday's hearing had been expected to determine whether there was enough evidence to bring Sandusky for trial.

"The decision is surprising," Pennsylvania Deputy Attorney General Marc Costanzo said of Sandusky's waiving the hearing. Costanzo said that prosecutors had 11 witnesses -- including some alleged victims -- ready to testify that Sandusky was a serial child sex abuser.

Sandusky's decision immediately prompted speculation that he may seek a deal to plead guilty in return for a reduced prison sentence.

"I think the chances are really good" of a plea bargain, said Slade McLaughlin, a lawyer representing an unidentified man listed in court documents as Victim One, whom Sandusky is alleged to have abused more than 20 times in 2007 and 2008.

But Costanzo said there is no talk of such a deal at this point.

It was high drama in the packed Bellefonte, Pennsylvania, courtroom when, moments before the hearing was scheduled to begin, Amendola requested a meeting with the judge.

Audible gasps were heard when the announcement of the waiver was made.

Sandusky, in a dark suit, was led out of the back of the courthouse and paused to address reporters:

"We fully intend to put together the best possible defense that we can do, to stay the course, to fight for four quarters ... We want the opportunity to present our side," Sandusky said, using a football metaphor, as he emerged from court.

Costanzo said the waiver "helps the prosecution in a lot of ways," and that Sandusky's alleged victims would avoid having to testify twice in the case.

Legal experts said that Sandusky decision was unconventional and followed on from his decision to give a television interview that was widely seen as hurting his defense.

Had he proceeded with the hearing it would have forced witnesses testify more than once, which can work to the benefit of the defense, said Lisa Friel, former chief of the Manhattan District Attorney's Sex Crimes Prosecution Unit.

"Given that no human being ever related an event that happens to them the same way every time they say it, just by making them say it again and again ... exploits the possibility of inconsistencies at trial," Friel said.

The attorney for the boy identified in court documents as Victim 6, said Sandusky's legal strategy left him with mixed emotions.

"I would have liked these boys to have the opportunity to tell their story so the public would have had the benefit of assessing those boys and that they are giving testimony from their hearts," said attorney Howard Janet.

Sandusky is the focus of a wide-ranging investigation of alleged child sex abuse over a 15-year period. The original charges were outlined in a 23-page grand jury report in early November, and additional charges have been filed.

Two former university officials have also been charged in an alleged cover-up of Sandusky's activities, and have professed their innocence.

Penn State's board of trustees in November fired legendary football coach Joe Paterno and the university president for not telling police after they were informed of one alleged incident.

The Penn State scandal has focused national attention on the problem of child abuse. In Washington, Sen. Barbara Mikulski said at a hearing called as a result of the Penn State situation, that every adult should be required to report known or suspected child abuse.

Michael McQueary, a Penn State assistant football coach, told the grand jury in Sandusky's case that he had seen the former defensive co-ordinator raping a young boy in the football team's locker room showers in 2002.

But the then graduate assistant did not report the alleged incident to police, only to team officials. Since then, McQueary's testimony and reports of conflicting versions of what he saw, have been a focus of the case.

Amendola said he will look to "destroy" McQueary's testimony at trial. "Credibility is going to be the main factor in this case," Amendola said. "We wouldn't have been able to address that today."

Also on Tuesday, the head of the special committee set up by Penn State to investigate the child sex abuse scandal said he hoped the inquiry could be completed in the spring of 2012, before the end of the current academic year.

Kenneth Frazier, chairman of the trustees special committee and chief executive of pharmaceutical company Merck & Co, said there was no formal timetable for the investigation headed by former FBI director Louis Freeh.

(Additional reporting by Ian Simpson in Washington and Lewis Krauskopf and Andrew Longstreth in New York; Writing by Ros Krasny; Editing by Greg McCune)