Bellefonte, PA – Former Penn State assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky waived his preliminary hearing Tuesday morning, moving his child sex abuse case toward a trial.
The hearing would have required state prosecutors to present enough evidence of Sandusky's alleged actions to move the case to trial, but the case now proceeds to the Court of Common Pleas.
"We fully intend to put together the best possible defense that we can do," Sandusky said outside the courthouse Tuesday. "To stay the course, to fight for four quarters."
The Centre County Court website also said Sandusky waived his arraignment, which had been set for January 11. His next scheduled court appearance is a pre-trial conference scheduled for March 22.
Sandusky was charged last month with 40 counts of various sexual crimes in a scandal that cost legendary Penn State head football coach Joe Paterno and university president Graham Spanier, among others, their jobs.
The counts were revealed in a grand jury presentment, which found that eight young men were the targets of sexual advances or assaults starting in 1994 and continuing through 2009. It was expected that Sandusky's alleged victims were to testify at Tuesday's hearing.
Last week, Sandusky was arrested on additional charges after two more people testified to a grand jury that, as children, they had been targeted for sexual assault by the former coach.
Sandusky, who was initially arrested November 5, was released on $250,000 bail and remains on house arrest. He has admitted to showering and horsing around with kids, but has proclaimed his innocence.
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