Denial Is A River: What Were Joe Amendola & Jerry Sandusky Thinking?

It's hard to imagine alleged Penn State child molester Jerry Sandusky as the victim of anything except perhaps a mental illness. Today, he is clearly the victim of some bad legal and communications advice.

Sandusky and his attorney, Joe Amendola, last night gave an exclusive interview to NBC’s Rock Center with Brian Williams. Sandusky needed to do something to anchor himself against a rushing river of bad facts and anger, but today he is further downstream.

Sandusky acknowledged showering with young boys and touching their legs. He said he “horsed around." He said he "enjoys" young people but denied being a pedophile. Amendola said he expects several alleged shower victims to deny that his client assaulted them, telling CNN: “Jerry Sandusky is a big, overgrown kid. He’s a jock. The bottom line is jocks do that. They kid around. They horse around."

It's doubtful that many 67-year-old “jocks” will verify that touching young boys on their thighs in the shower as commonplace. Not only do most reasonable men and women find Sandusky’s admissions disturbing, but even the conduct he acknowledged might constitute a criminal misdemeanor.

Sandusky and Amendola had hoped their media appearance would work to give the jury pool another side of the story, portraying the hulking former linebacker somewhat sympathetically and offering hints at a credible explanation for the disgusting accusations against him.

It didn’t work. The decision was an incredible miscalculation. The weight of the allegations is massive. The intensity of the media scrutiny is white hot. There are shoes left to drop, including more alleged victims coming forward to authorities.


Legendary defense attorney Roy Black represented William Kennedy Smith in a similarly intense case. Despite unrelenting, global media scrutiny and his client’s desire to publicly defend himself against a rape charge, Black held his fire.

He assured the public that his client would be found innocent once all the facts were known. He prepared for every court appearance. He let his written court filings raise doubt about Smith’s accuser, knowing that each one would become public and would be covered. And when it came time for jury selection and trial, he orchestrated compelling communications inside and outside the courtroom that maximized every opportunity to portray Smith in a positive light.  

A jury quickly found Smith not guilty and he went on with his life.

If Sandusky and Amendola felt a burning desire to go public, they either should have prepared better by developing and delivering strong, credible messages or they should have settled for a written statement and enlisted friends and family of Sandusky to speak to his good character.

Based on the outcome, this communications effort was a bust. Amendola should have called a different play for Sandusky.