Sandusky Asks Judge To Postpone Sex Abuse Trial; When Will The Trial Start?

The trial for former Penn State assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky could be postponed.

An attorney for Sandusky, who was charged last year with more than 50 counts involving sexual acts with minors, asked on Wednesday, May 9, for his client's June 5 trial to be delayed.

Sandusky's lawyer, Joe Amendola, filed a motion saying that without a postponement he will be unable to effectively and adequately represent the former State College defensive coordinator, according to CNN.

While Amendola has made similar motions in the past, Last month Superior Court Judge John Cleland denied a motion for continuance that could have potentially pushed back the trial's scheduled start date.

Cleland also ruled against a motion to dismiss, made by the defense, arguing that too much time elapsed, from a legal standpoint, from when the alleged crimes occurred.

Motions for a continuance are are granted only if valid grounds exist that justify the postponement of the action.

For example, a court will grant the motion all the interested parties have not appeared in order to bring them into the action so that they may present their side of the case.

If a continuance is granted, the trial court will set its duration with regard to the rights of both parties and impose any necessary restrictions.

In the case of Jerry Sandusky, the continuance duration, if granted, could last around three weeks to a month.

Sandusky currently remains under house arrest, as he has pleaded not guilty to the alleged charges.

CNN is also reporting that Mike McQueary -- a former graduate student considered a key witness in the Sandusky case -- filed court documents on May 8, indicating that he intends to a bring a civil suit against Penn State University over an employment dispute.

McQueary was reportedly placed on administrative leave in November right after the school athletic department said McQueary would not coach in Saturday's game against Nebraska due to multiple threats against him.

It became clear that Coach McQueary could not function in this role, under these circumstances, Rodney Erickson, then acting university president, said of the decision.

McQueary testified that he alerted head coach Joe Paterno in 2002 that he'd seen what appeared to be Sandusky sexually assaulting a boy, an allegation authorities didn't learn of until years later.

Prosecutors said this week that the incident actually took place a year earlier than what was originally alleged, causing defense lawyers for two former Penn State officials to argue that one of the charges should now be dropped, according to CNN.

A court filing from May 7 indicates that the attorney general's office determined that the incident in question occurred around February 9, 2001, rather than in March 2002, which was originally listed in the grand jury report.

Tim Curley, Penn State's former athletic director, and Gary Schultz, a former university vice president who oversaw campus police, have been charged with perjury and failing to report the incident in question.

Attorneys for Curley and Schultz said in a statement that prosecutors charged this case before it knew the facts, according to CNN.