Please Shut Up Now

Is there a shortage of qualified defense attorneys in State College, Pennsylvania?  I ask because the growing legal team for former Penn State Defensive Coordinator Jerry Sandusky continues to baffle everyone with the public comments they are making.

The latest doozy comes from attorney Karl Rominger who told a local TV station that the reason Jerry Sandusky was showering with boys is because "he was teaching them basic hygene."  It's Rominger's contention that these 10 or 12 year old boys "had no idea how to put soap on their bodies".

When I first saw this video clip, I had to make sure that I didn't have on the Daily Show with Jon Stewart or The Colbert Report or The Onion News Network--because it is so ludicrously implausible that it had to be scripted for a laugh.  Right?  Unfortunately, it was a "real" news channel.

It appears that the Sandusky defense is either trying to win its case in the court of public opinion--or its trying to taint the jury pool so that it would be impossible for their client to get a fair trial anywhere except Amish Country.  (There are more than a few attorneys in our area who believe that if a crime story is featured in one radio or TV newscast that every person within 200-miles of the courthouse has formed an opinion about the case and cannot be expected to be impartial on a jury.)  So the more the story gets on TV, the harder it will be to try the case near Penn State.

Or, perhaps these attorneys believe that Jerry Sandusky's explanations for his behavior fit within the realm of sexual normalcy.  I mean, his original attorney--Joe Amendola--fathered a child with a 17-year old girl--when he was 49-years old.  And that was a girl that he was representing in her efforts to emancipate herself from her parents.  Amendola then married the girl right before she gave birth to a second child.  So to attorney Amendola, the idea of "teaching boys how to shower" by getting naked with them and having intimate physical contact must seem like the kind of explanation any "rational" person would accept.

And while we are on the subject, why hasn't Penn State filed a "cease and desist" action against Sandusky from wearing Nittany Lions apparel when appearing in public?  The day he's arrested the first time--he's got on his Penn State Football shirt and running pants.  He does a videotaped interview with the New York Times--he's got a Penn State golf shirt on.  The second time he's arrested and brought to jail--he's wearing a Penn State windbreaker.  You would think that the University could argue that by continuning to don the school's licensed apparel, Sandusky is giving the public the idea that he is still affiliated with the school.

The guys in legal requested this be added:  Today's My Two Cents is not to be considered legal advice and should not be taken as such.  My Two Cents is not a licensed legal practice and this material is not to be considered a solicitation for legal representation. 

Nonetheless, the time has come for the Sandusky defense to shut its mouths--stay away from the cameras and microphones for a while--and to stop making a horrible situation even worse.