Jerry Sandusky sentencing set for Oct. 9

A Pennsylvania judge has answered a request by state prosecutors to hold a hearing to

determine the sex offender status of convicted child molester Jerry Sandusky.

In a Sept. 17 order, Judge John M. Cleland, the jurist specially presiding over the Sandusky child sex-abuse case, scheduled an Oct. 9 hearing to determine whether or not the former Pennsylvania State University assistant football coach is a “sexually violent predator.”

Prosecutors last week filed a motion seeking to have Cleland schedule a time to be able to present the testimony of a doctor who sits on the Sexual Offender Assessment Board as it relates to the commonwealth’s desire to label Sandusky a sexually violent predator.

Sandusky was formerly the defensive coordinator for the Penn State Nittany Lions.

In November of last year, he was charged following a grand jury report with a slew of sex crimes relating to the molestation of 10 young boys over a 15-year time period.

This June, Sandusky was convicted following a two-week jury trial of 45 of the 48 criminal counts against him.

In Cleland’s Sept. 17 order, the judge wrote that sentencing would occur immediately following the sex offender status hearing on Oct. 9.

The order further requires all parties to submit presentencing memoranda or other written statements submitted on behalf of the prosecution and defense, and intended to aid the court in the imposition of sentence, by Oct. 5 at 3 p.m.

Lastly, the order states that a sentencing conferenced with counsel will be held in the judge’s chambers at the Centre County Courthouse on Oct. 8 at 2 p.m.

Aside from the criminal aspect of the case, civil litigation is pending against Sandusky, Penn State and The Second Mile, the charitable organization that was founded by Sandusky in the late 1970s as a way to aid disadvantaged youth.