Every judge in Centre County, where Penn State resides, has removed themselves from potentially presiding over the child sex-abuse case against former assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky.
Penn State’s County Judges Remove Themselves From Sandusky Case Consideration
They will be replaced by outside jurists, the Pennsylvania court system announced Thursday.
The four Centre County Common Pleas Court judges bowed out “to avoid any appearance of conflict of interest due to real or perceived connections” to Sandusky or the Second Mile charity that he founded.
McKean County Judge John M. Cleland was appointed to take over the case and judge Kathy A. Morrow will handle matters until he can assume jurisdiction. Neither are said to have any known connections to Sandusky or the school.
A preliminary hearing scheduled for Dec. 13 at the Centre County Courthouse in Bellefonte also will be handled by an out-of-county jurist, Westmoreland County Senior District Judge Robert E. Scott. Scott replaced the original judge, who had ties to Sandusky’s charity.
Related: Jerry Sandusky fallout, replacing Joe Paterno, and Penn State’s movement to support sexual abuse survivors. For more on the Nittany Lions, visit Penn State blog Black Shoe Diaries. More college football news.
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