Jerry Sandusky Atty. Didn’t Say Alleged Rape Victim ‘Denies Abuse’ As Reuters Reports

In addition to accused child rapist Jerry Sandusky, Bob Costas also interviewed Sandusky attorney Joe Amendola on Monday night’s Rock Center, and minutes later, Amendola’s defense strategy to muddy the waters began to work. A Reuters report on the interview falsely claimed “Boy in 2002 incident denies abuse: Sandusky lawyer,” and that Amendola told Costas “the boy at the center of a 2002 incident detailed in the grand jury’s report had been identified and said it never happened.”

From Reuters:

The lawyer for the Penn State football coach charged with child sex abuse said in an interview on Monday the boy at the center of a 2002 incident detailed in the grand jury’s report had been identified and said it never happened.

Jerry Sandusky, the former defensive coordinator for the Penn State Nittany Lions, was arrested more than a week ago on charges he sexually abused eight young boys over a 15-year period.

Speaking to sportscaster Bob Costas, Joe Amendola, who represents Sandusky, said “we anticipate we’re going to have at least several of those kids come forward and say, ‘This never happened.’”

The problem is, that’s not what Amendola said. He did speculate about such a retraction, but the language he used was deliberately non-specific. Here’s what Amendola actually said: (emphasis mine)

Bob Costas: You said a few days ago much more is going to come out in our defense. in broad terms, what?

Joe Amendola: We expect we’re going to have a number of kids, now how many of those so-called eight kids we’re not sure, but we anticipate we’re going to have at least several of those kids come forward and say “this never happened. This is me. This is the allegation, it never occurred.”

In fact one of the — one of the toughest allegations that, the McQueary violations, what McQueary said he saw, we have information that that child says that never happened. Now grown up.

Bob Costas: Until now we were told that that alleged victim could not be identified. You have identified –

Joe Amendola: We think we have.

Bob Costas: So you have found him, the commonwealth has not?

Joe Amendola: Interesting, isn’t it?

Now, this is tough to fit into a headline, but there is a world of difference between ”Boy in 2002 incident denies abuse: Sandusky lawyer,” and “Sandusky Lawyer Says He Thinks He Has Identified Alleged 2002 Victim, And ‘Has Information’ Of Unknown Origin That He Denies Being Raped.”

Amendola did not claim the alleged victim denies the incident, but thanks to Reuters’ odd game of news telephone, Sandusky and Amendola now gain the benefit of having made that claim, without any of the consequences. If the (now-grown) boy never turns up, Sandusky’s lawyer is in the clear, because he never said he knew who the alleged victim was, or that he heard him deny the incident, but for the time being, people will be talking about how, “Hey, even the kid from the shower says it didn’t happen.”

Joe Amendola is a lawyer, so you can bet that if he could have made these claims in stronger terms, he would have. As it stands, substantially speaking, he didn’t really say anything.

The Reuters report also carries this disclaimer at the bottom of the page: “This version corrects headline source as Sandusky lawyer.”

What’s especially curious about Reuters’ report is the fact that they directly quote several parts of Costas’ Sandusky interview, but elected not to directly quote Amendola on the claim that appears in their headline. Without a link to a transcript or video, Reuters’ readers would have no way of knowing what Amendola actually said.

We have no way of knowing how Sandusky’s legal defense will play out, but it is important to note that, as of right now, even according to Sandusky’s lawyer, not a single alleged victim from Sandusky’s indictment has come forward to dispute these incidents, despite the strong impression he gives that they have.

Here’s the interview again, from NBC’s Rock Center: (Look for Amendola around the 4:20 mark)

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