Ex-Penn State assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky withdraws petition for new sex abuse trial in state court

Former Penn State assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky withdrew his petition for a new trial at a hearing Tuesday morning with plans to pursue federal relief, according to a spokesperson for Sandusky.

A judge in Centre County, Pennsylvania, accepted the withdrawal of Sandusky's petition at the state court hearing.

Sandusky, who was convicted of sex abuse in 2012, appeared virtually from prison to officially tell the court he'd like to withdraw the petition, filed last year.

Attorneys for Sandusky notified the court last week of his intentions but the judge kept Tuesday's hearing on the schedule so she could hear from the disgraced football coach about the reversal.

A victim who testified against Sandusky in his original trial was scheduled to publicly recant his allegations in court on Tuesday at what was set to be an evidentiary hearing.

Sandusky has always maintained he is innocent and, according to the spokesperson, opted to withdraw his efforts in state court to pursue what he hopes to be a faster appellate route in federal court.

Lawyers for Sandusky have fought his conviction for more than a decade and now at his age, time is of the essence.

"I need to get there as fast as possible. I'm 82 years old. I'm innocent. I intend to be alive when the truth is heard," Sandusky said in an audio statement from prison shared with CNN last week.

Sandusky's legal team filed the latest post-conviction relief petition for a new trial last year based on several issues. A judge batted down most of the arguments but did grant the evidentiary hearing based on the recantation from a man who testified at Sandusky's trial as Alleged Victim No. 10.

"I now regret my role in facilitating what I have come to view as a deeply flawed prosecution," wrote Ryan Rittmeyer, known in the trial as Alleged Victim No. 10, in a 2025 affidavit. Rittmeyer is the only victim of Sandusky who has recanted, and he is connected to only six of the 45 counts against the coach.

Sandusky will not be able to pursue federal relief based on the recantation because the petition was not exhausted in state court. With his lawyers, Sandusky now intends to file a petition in federal court to continue fighting his conviction based on other issues that were unsuccessful in previous state appeals.

"Over the years, I have brought 15 serious issues before Pennsylvania's courts, each one showing I deserve a new trial. Everyone was swatted down," Sandusky said in the recorded statement. "I have no faith this one would be treated differently, no matter how compelling the evidence in federal court, every one of those issues can be heard together by judges who have not already made up their minds about me."

The coach, who called himself the "Great Pretender," was sentenced to 30 to 60 years in 2012 for sexually abusing 10 boys over a 15-year period. Many of them were connected to The Second Mile, a charity Sandusky started in 1977 as a group foster home, which had grown to encompass a broad range of programs for disadvantaged young people.

At the trial, victims described in detail multiple instances of oral sex when they were teenagers – sometimes in a basement, sometimes in a shower.

This story has been updated with additional information.