One of Jerry Sandusky’s accusers is to appear for hearing on recanting allegations of sexual abuse

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. (AP) — Jerry Sandusky, the former Penn State assistant football coach, was set to participate in a court hearing remotely on Tuesday regarding a claim that one of his accusers intends to recant their allegations of sexual abuse dating back years. This hearing is part of Sandusky’s ongoing efforts to obtain a new trial.

Sandusky, now 82, has been incarcerated since his 2012 conviction for 45 counts of sexual abuse against eight young men who alleged he abused them as boys. Despite multiple attempts, Sandusky's lawyers have been unable to secure a new trial. The Pennsylvania Attorney General's Office has deemed the purported recantation "highly suspect."

The accuser, referred to in court documents as R.R., claims he was coached intensively by authorities, leading to "safely affirm details I did not fully recall," according to an affidavit filed by Sandusky's legal team. The defense argues that R.R.'s accusations stemmed from "suggestive leading questioning, prosecutorial coercion and influence, confirmatory bias and memory manipulation."

Sandusky served as the defensive coordinator at one of the nation's premier football programs under the esteemed Joe Paterno. The scandal resulted in Paterno's dismissal, and the university disbursed over $100 million to individuals who alleged they were abused by Sandusky. Authorities contend he discovered and groomed boys at The Second Mile, a charity he established to aid at-risk youth.

Sandusky continues to insist on his innocence. R.R., who was 25 years old at the time of the trial, testified that at the age of 11, Sandusky sexually abused him in the coach's basement in 1998, as documented in a transcript.