joining me now is joseph amendola who is the defense counsel for jerry sandusky. thank you for joining me this morning. >> you are welcome, thomas. >> you have said that you want your client out of jail to help you prepare for the trial. is there any intention on your side to talk plea deal? >> no. there's never been any discussions about a plea on either side of this case. and jerry has maintained his innocence as you know from the very outset of the very first allegation made by accuser one. he has maintained his innocence in regard to all of the charges. he has defenses to them. and his intent has always been to go to trial. yesterday's decision to waive the preliminary hearing was a tactical one. the preliminary hearing, thomas s a probable cause hearing and it is not a trial. it is not a time and place where we present a defense. we can't even cross-examine commonwealth witnesses about the credibility issue, because it is a fundamental legal principle. all that can happen is that the commonwealth witnesses testify and had that happened yesterday, the media wo

you can see joe amendola reiterated that.n't attack the credibility of those alleged victims, so they would have been telling their side of the story, with essentially very little to no defense and that was why they decided not to go through with it, even though he did say that they really debated it but they decided late last night and they told prosecutors that they were going to waive. >> now this case just goes straight to trial, right? >> now this case is going to trial, january 11th, jerry sandusky does have a formal arraignment. that is kind of a procedural type of hearing. most people waive that. they don't come in and show up for it. so, the next stage in this is setting a trial date after that january 11th arraignment. we should have a tentative trial date at that time. >> developing news out of the jerry sandusky case. coming up, what it means to be poor in the wealthiest country in the world. a new op-ed tackles poverty and the real american dream. they came to see us in florida... make that alabama... make that m

monday night when they realized the state had the upper hand and amendola would be unable to attackredibility of the witnesses. >> in fact, the prosecutor i think correctly stated that he would object to any questions i wanted to ask about credibility. reporter: in return for waiverring the hearing, prosecutors agreed to share -- waiving the hearing prosecutors agreed to share evidence against sandusky more expeditiously and agreed not to raise his bail. >> today was a small part in this legal process, a part this which would have been very one- sided, basically the commonwealth's opportunity to represent all the allegations its made without us having a chance to effectively defend. >>> amendola admitted his strategy included the opportunity to hold a news conference and defend his client against his many accusers. >> do you realize that many of these young men already have civil attorneys for the lawsuits that are being filed, have been filed or will be filed? what greater motivation and i hate to say, it but it's going to be part of our case and we're checking on it now, what grea

amendola to level these charges without an iota of evidence.y whatever he wants now and reach deep into his bag of tricks, but i can assure you that the furthest thing from my client's mind is money. what he wants to see is justice brought against jerry sandusky. >> howard, briefly, does your client, alleged victim number six, know any of the other alleged victims or want money? >> he does know, yes, some of the young victims. some of them were second mile children just as he was. that was his feeding ground, if you will. but i don't believe for a scintilla of a second that any of these children are motivated -- now young adults -- are motivated by money. while i don't believe it of them, i know it as to victim number six. this young man was abused by jerry sandusky. it's evidence from the grand jury report back in 1998. 13 years ago. neither he nor his mother did anything other than report this to the police to try and seek the kind of justice that was required. he didn't file a lawsuit, she didn't file a lawsuit. never looked for a penny, nev

amendola to level these charges without an iota of evidence.whatever he wants now and reach deep into his bag of tricks. but i can assure you that the furthest thing from my client's mind is money. what he wants to see is justice brought against jerry sandusky. >> howard, briefly, does your client, alleged victim number six, know any of the other alleged victims or want money? >> he does know some of the victims. some of them were second mile children just as he was. that was his feeding ground, if you will. but i don't believe for a scintilla of a second that any of these children are motivated, now young adults, are motivated by money. while i don't believe it as to them, i know it as to victim six. this young man was abused by jerry sandusky. it's evident upon the grand jury report. back in 1998, 13 years ago, neither he nor his mother did anything other than report this to the police to try and seek the kind of justice that was required. he didn't file a lawsuit. she didn't file a lawsuit, never looked for a penny, never asked for a penny,

amendola, are you competent to defend jerry sandusky against these charges? >> well, i'm competent to defend him. but the fact of the matter is, ann, that he's facing an uphill battle, which i compare to climbing mt. everest from the bottom. i think we have a defense, but as you know, when these charges were first filed in early november, the media and the public convicted jerry sandusky before he even had a chance to appear in court. and unfortunately, despite our efforts, he is still facing a really tough task. so as far as competency is concerned, i have absolutely no doubt in my mind that we can give jerry the best defense possible. but the fact still remains, he's facing a really, really big challenge in overcoming the allegations. >> why wouldn't you have known that you could not question in the preliminary hearing that you waived the right to yesterday -- you could not have questioned the accusers on credibility. why would you have not known that until the 11th hour? did you do your homework on that, sir? >> oh, my goodness, i've known that for years.

amendola and he said he expected a trial date to be set. he expected it to happen sometime after june of next year. so that's what is next for jerry sandusky. until then, he will remain on house arrest, that $250,000 bail is still in if he can as well. >> and craig, did we learn anymore about how his lawyer plans to defend him? >> reporter: we learn a great deal. what happened here, instead of having what was probably going to be a day's worth of stomach churning detail from these alleged victims, it ended up being a two-hour press conference by joe amendola. he spoke for an hour and then he went to about every reporter and talk to them at length. and it appears as if based on what he said, that his strategy will be to attack the credibility of the witnesses. to attack the credibility of the ten victims who have come forward so far. >> craig melvin with the latest from the sandusky hearing there in pennsylvania. thank you, craig. >>> a construction work he in gaithersburg seriously injured this morning when he was knocked into a deep trench

. >> so far sandusky's tonio amendola has taken what can -- attorney joseph amendola has taken what can be described as an orthodox approach to handling this case, talking to anyone who will listen. what sort of defense is this? >> i look at the -- looked at the interview, at least one with bob costas and i was blown away you could let your client do. obviously i'm not going to represent what he can do, but there was so much information out there that was bad about sander he was trying to get around the corner -- sandusky he was trying to get around the corner. the prosecution has those interviews locked and lowed ready to cross-examine sandusky if he ever testifies at trial. >> is amendola crazy like a fox? again what sort of strategy is this? why ever let your client talk in this manner? >> well, you wouldn't. you actually wouldn't. you use the phrase crazy like a fox, but i just don't see after 25 years of practice where these interviews got him at all. >> given the public attention, public opinion can sandusky get a fair trial at this point in your opinion at all? >> you know, that'

mcqueary today declined comment but earlier this week sandusky's lawyer, joe amendola, said this about mcqueary. >> it would be a shame if what comes out of all this is all he reported was he felt uncomfortable because jerry was in a shower with a kid horseplaying around and all of a sudden over years that involved into the anal sex situation. >> amendola told us today if the information is accurate it will help sandusky's case. he says it will confirm everything his client has been saying all along. betty, back to you. >> all right. anna werner, back to you. now to one of the most shocking incidents college basketball has seen in years. it unfolded on the court in cincinnati last night. play was stopped before the final buzzer as a mass slugfest eruptinged. cynthia bowers tells us what happens and shows us the aftermath. >> it's called the cross-town shootout and with the schools less than four miles apart, the loser of the annual rivalry game between xavier and cincinnati is reminded kale. >> this year a lop-side win for xavier. >> then with nine seconds left, the game took an ugly t

then joe amendola followed that up with but this wasn't the right time or place.le when he was walking into court that some photographers caught him smiling as he was walking in. it was so brief, his time in court was so brief it was hard to say what kind of reaction because he didn't have that much of a demeanor, it was so short. he did have supporters in the courtroom. his wife was there, it appeared some of his adoptive children were there and four or five rows of people from his church. >> okay. sara, thank you very much. we appreciate it. >>> in new york, police on long island announced new developments in the serial killer investigation. the partial remains of at least ten women have been found along a parkway leading to a beach. that happened last year. we went to bring in debra. are they calling it a breakthrough? >> this could be a possible break in the hunt what police believe is the body from a serial killer. it was found after 19 months of disappearance. richard dormer spoke a short time ago and here's what he said. >> after an exhaustive methodical ma

his attorney amendola stes in.'s watch this disturbing comment by him. >> what in the world, this question, what is it -- you know, am i going to be -- if i say no, i'm not attracted to boys, that's not the truth because i'm attracted to young people, boys, girls -- >> yeah, but not sexually. you're attracted because you enjoy spending time -- >> right, i enjoy. that's what i was trying to say. i enjoy spending time with young people. i enjoy spending time with people. >> well, just why does sandusky keep talking? is he gaining support as he tries to defend himself? he writes for the "daily beast" and "vanity fair." thank you very much, for coming on. i know you didn't like this interview much. what are we getting out of this guy, sandusky, apart from the journalism, whatever quality we're getting? what is this guy's penchant for talking? >> i mean, all he does is mire himself further and further and further. i know, if you listen to the audio portion of "the new york times" interview, the reason amendola did this,

joe amendola telling me he oftentimes drives around and gets a thumb up.own at his home. so, definitely deep feelings on both sides, both sides of this story. >> in fact, even death threats made against mike mcqueary, who is one of the important witnesses in this case. i spent a lot of time talking this morni ing talking to some the locals around and they're flabbergasted by the amount of attention this received nationwide but they certainly understand given the reputation of penn state university and given the reputation of this very well-known retired coach jerry sandusky and given the shocking nature of the allegations against him. that is why this has garnered so much attention in this town. they're willing to put up with it. they get how important this is. >> one more other point, ali. i know so much has been said about this particular move today. legally was it the right thing to do today? i think from joe amendola's move, he feels so much has already been said in terms of allegations that jerry really feels like at this point jerry sandusky is a man

last night, amendola decided to waive the preliminary hearing. after prosecutors warned him they would try to limit his ability to challenge the credibility of the witnesses on cross-examination. >> this is a fight to the death. this is the fight of jerry sandusky's life. this goes beyond the penn state/miami game in '86. this is the game of his life. >> reporter: nbc news chief legal analyst savannah guthrie. >> it's really a tradeoff. on the one hand, the defense loses the opportunity to assess the accuser's credibility in court, their demeanor. but at the same time, they have avoided days upon days of bad publicity. >> reporter: the postponement was most painful for sandusky's alleged victims. >> he's a coward for not showing up and facing them today. once they were prepared and gone through the wrenching gut check of getting ready to do this, depriving them of a chance to tell their story to his face. >> reporter: but they'll get another chance if there's no plea deal and this case goes to trial. michael isikoff, nbc news, bellefonte, pennsyl

joseph amendola said that if anyone thinks penn state officials knew about sandusky's alleged behavior and failed to act, they should think again. >> their response was simply to tell jerry sandusky that don't go in the shower room any more with kids, i suggest you dial 1-800-reality because that makes absolutely no sense. >> amendola said he has used that 1-800 phrase for years to mean something doesn't make sense. to his embarrassment, the number turns out to be a gay sex line. >>> now to a story that illustrates changing social attitudes in this country. the percentage of married adults has fallen to a record low. just 51% of adults 18 years and older are now married. a pugh research center says that is a drop from 57% in 2000. at the same time, when americans first married has hit all-time high, median age 26 for women. and 29 for men. the survey found 4 in 10 young americans consider marriage, quote, obsolete. >>> switching to politics now. the republican race for president. a new a.p. poll out this this morning shows newt gingrich edging romney in the republican race. in today's

amendola said he'd consider, quote, possible alternatives with sandusky if more boys appear than are covered in the indictment. >>> firefighters in one prince george's community are chipping in to help a family that lost three loved ones over the weekend. a donation drive was held at the lewisdale elementary school on wednesday night. earl monroe was the lone survivor of a friday on sunday morning sparked by an overloaded power strip. her sister, daughter, and 6-year-old grandson were all killed. >> i don't know what i could have done to save my daughter's life, my sister, omare's life, and my sister's life. it's traumatic. it's even more traumatic. i want to say thanks again for all your support. >> the money raised last night will help pay for the funerals of the three victims. >>> new from overnight, important recall information for drivers. honda is recalling for more than 300,000 of its cars because of a problem with air bags. the recall includes from 2001 through 2003 honda and acura vehicles. it was originally announced last year because the driver's air bag could go off with

joseph amendola said if anyone thinks penn state officials knew about sandusky's alleged behavior' failed to act, they should think again. >> their response was simply to tell jerry sandusky that don't go in the shower room any more with kids, i suggest you dial 1-800-reality because that makes absolutely no sense. >> amendola said he has used that 1-800-phrase for years to mean something doesn't make sense. to his embarrassment, the number turns out to be a gay sex line. >>> to a story that illustrates changing social attitudes in this country. the percent of married adults has fallen to a record low. 51% of americans are now married and a pugh research center says that is a drop from 57% in 2000 p.m. at the same time, when americans first married has hit all-time high, median age 26 for women. young americans consider marriage, quote, obobsolete. >> reporter: switching to politics now. a new ap poll shows newt gingrich edging romney in the republican race. in today's "the washington post" he calls the former house speaker, quote, an extremely unreliable leader in the conservative world.

amendola, thank you for being with us this morning.his just in this morning -- the protester is "time" magazine the person of the year. that's right. the person of the year is the protester. the announcement just made moments ago with an emphasis on middle east protesters behind the arab spring uprising. the choice, thousand was made when joined by bobby gosch, "time" magazine's international editor. we guessed right this morning, then. >> the protester. >> did you guess right? >> yeah. >> you did? >> yeah. >> carol, you're so smart. >> i don't know about that. >>> closing in on the god particle. after years of research using the largest and most scientific instrument ever built, physicists say they're closer than ever to seeing the tiniest building blocks of the university. we'll get an explanation. so all of us can kind of understand that. >>> it's 45 minutes past the hour. the next big sound. they sound awesome tonight. and when i do find it, i share it with the world. you landed the u.s. tour ? done. this is fantastic ! music is my

amendola expressed the throngs of media. he talked for about an hour, essentially detailing what he plans to do in terms of a defense for sandusky. take a listen. >> we have enough inconsistencies at this point to totally wipe him off of our case. one step further, to get back to the initial question about what was so important about mike mcqueary. he was the commonwealth's centerpiece. to the extent we destroy his credibility, i think we put everybody else's credibility into question in this case. >> reporter: there you have it. joe amendola essentially saying his strategy from this point on will be to attack the credibility of each of the witnesses. he sell one of the primary factors in deciding to forgo the preliminary hearing, he was not going to be able to question mike mcqueary. there were 11 witnesses it was, eight of them, none of them even showed up for court. >> craig, thanks for keeping us posted. fwj bernstein, an experienced litigator in child sexual abuse cases, and the writer covering the penn state scandal fo

>> reporter: in an hour-long address, amendola repeatedly raised questions about the truthfulness of the accusations against sandusky. >> as all of you know, credibility is going to be the main factor in this case. >> reporter: but the 11th hour decision has given you exactly this kind of platform to make your case to a national media. is this all part of your legal strategy? >> when we knew that we were going to waive and we knew everybody was here we realized that this was an opportunity for us to speak with you as opposed to piecemeal. >> reporter: so it's a very smart move? >> well, i'll let you be the judge of that. but i'll tell you this: there will be no plea negotiations. this is a fight to the death. this is the fight of jerry sandusky's life. >> reporter: sandusky remains free on $250,000 bond and, scott, he will continue to wear that electronic monitoring device. >> pelley: that monitoring is supposed to keep him restricted to his home. thanks, armen, appreciate that. president obama asked iran to give america's spy plane back. today he got his answer. iran said no. the r.

thank you. >>> we want to bring in now jerry sandusky's lawyer, joe amendola. good morning to you, joe. >> good morning, jeff. >> we heard from mike boni, the lawyer for alleged victim number one who said that his client doesn't even know any of the other alleged victims. yesterday, you raiseded the possibility of collusion. who do you think might be doing that specifically? >> well, we know -- we know for a fact that accusers numbers two and six know each other and we believe number seven also knows two and six. and it's quite possible that number four knows all of those three. so we are checking into that. this is information we've received, jeff, that, obviously, we need to investigate and, at the current time, we don't have the legal authority to check into background information on these individuals, but we will have that authority via court's order later on in the case and we intend to pursue that possibility. >> what happened yesterday, obviously, surprised a lot of people. your defense strategy has been described as bizarre and unorthodoxed. how would y

amendola said he did not know the number was real and vowed not to use it again.fter sandusky waived his hearing on 53 sexual abuse charges. >>> a prostitution bust inside an arlington hotel. this exclusive video shows police taking four women into custody on a days inn on columbia pike. officers say they received a tip monday night about a prostitution ring going on in the hotel. they said they found an suv that had been reported stolen in the hotel parking lot. when people got into the vehicle, police made their move. >> well, this time we have to determine their relationship with the stolen vehicle, how they got it, and to see what crimes have actually been committed here of the >> police have not said what charges the six people taken into custody face at this point. >>> an 85-year-old woman is still shaken this morning after being am bushed and robbed while trying to leave her home for church. this happened friday morning on shepherd street in the brookland neighborhood northeast. the woman who does not want to be named said she is scraping ice off her windsh

amendola said he's used that phrase for years to mean get a life. the phone number is actually a sex line for gay men. amendola said he did not know the number is real and vowed not to use it again. sandusky is charged with 52 counts of sexual abuse involving ten days over a 12-year span. he says he is innocent. >>> the amateur athletic union, or aau, will address a sex abuse investigation centered on its former president today. the program is expected to announce changes to its policies and protocol to ensure athletes' safety. investigators are looking into allegations that ex-aau president robert dodd molested children 30 years ago. the 63-year-old retired last month. so far authorities have not received a formal victim complaint. >>> two former ball boys for the syracuse men's basketball team are now suing the university and head coach jim boeheim. the coach initially said bobby davis and mike lang were lying when they accused former assistant coach bernie fine of molesting them of the the stepbrothers are suing boeheim for defamation. syracuse f

amendola says he used it to say get a life. amendola did not know the number was real and will not use it again. jerry sandusky waived his preliminary hearing on two dozen sexual abuse charges. he maintains he is innocent. >>> two former ball boys for the syracuse men's basketball team are now suing head coach jim boeheim. the coach initially said that bobby davis and mike lang were lying when they accused longtime assistant coach bernie fine of sexually abusing them. the stepbrothers are suing boeheim for defamation. syracuse fired fine when his wife was heard in a taped telephone call suggesting she knew about the alleged abuse. the u.s. attorney's office is investigating claims from the third accuser as well. >>> investigators are still looking for clues into last week's deadly shooting at virginia tech. despite nonstop efforts, police cannot find a link between ross ashley and the campus police officer he killed. police say ashley bought the gun he used in the shooting at a licensed virginia gun dealer. there are also no kn

people still trying to figure out exactly what joe amendola was doing. i talked to a couple of the defense people here and this just plays part and parcel with what amendola has been doing from the start. he has played a very sly fox here. the victims were in the court today, ready to testify. amendola set up a great deal of anticipation for this kind of a hearing today and it just really was a shocker in many, many ways. >> arman, very quickly, what's next? any chance of a plea deal? >> i don't think so, jeff. no way on a plea deal, not at this time. this will go to trial. amendola has the opportunity to dig into the discovery in this case, but a lot of people here still trying to figure out what happened here today. a armen, thank you very much. >>> the republican-controlled house of representatives is expected to approve a plan to keep that tax cut in place. >> i believe it will pass with bipartisan support and when it comes to jobs, the american people can't wait. >> president obama is threatening to veto the bill if it reaches his desk so we're goin

>> oh, sure, absolutely. >> joe amendola raised the possibility that there was collusion between some of the victims here. what is your reaction to that? >> i was extremely offended by that remark. if mr. amendola wants to be a fact witness in the case, then he should stop representing jerry sandusky and get on the witness stand himself. what he's doing is he's trying to try this case in the media. it's improper, it's extremely offensive to the victims of his client, those who were sexually abused serially by him and then to add insult to injury, claim without an iiota of evidence to back that claim up that there was collusion. the fact is this, victim one does not know any of the other victims. he has not spoken with them. he was the first person to come out and bring these charges against mr. sandusky. and it is ludicrous not to mejz extremely offensive for him to level those charges against these victims. >> mike boni, we appreciate your time. i'm sure we'll speak to you again very soon. thanks, again. >> my pleasure, thank you. >>> we want to bring in now jerry sandusky's lawyer,

it is from joe amendola.n no way did he say during an interview yesterday that he is considering a plea deal. he says that a question was posed to him. that's exactly what happened. a question was posed to him in regard to if there are more and more alleged victims that keep coming forward, would you consider a plea deal? would you go in that direction? the response was really that people do things for different reasons. sometimes people who are very, very innocent will plead guilty or accept a plea deal if it is in the best interests of the situation. obviously, though, he left the door open in that interview about a plea deal, and he is the one that even said the words yesterday, if we would plead guilty. those words did come out of joe amendola's mouth. >> tell us a little bit about the boy who is now a young man known as victim number two that the attorney has talked about in the grand jury report. >> reporter: this is extremely interesting because there are eight alleged victims in the grand jury report.

amendola found himself in the car with in driver. we said minor injuries but nobody seriously hurt. >> a victory ride amendola could never have managed. that's it, have a good week everybody. >> we're laughing with him not at him. >> sure. >> we'll see you the next time news breaks. >> be sure to join the ktvu morning news beginning at 4:30 a.m. for the latest on the death of north korea's leader. we're always for you on ktvu.com and mobile ktvu. thank you so much for joining us and we'll see you here next weekend. have a great week everyone. [ female announcer ] what would you call an ordinary breakfast pastry that's been wrapped in a flaky crust stuffed with a gooey center toasted up all golden brown then given a delicious design? a toaster strudel. pillsbury toaster strudel. so delicious...so fun. mom, we're dying. no you're not, you're just hungry. make some totino's pizza rolls. we don't have any! front... left, totino's. [ male announcer ] well done mom! less drama, more fun! totino's pizza rolls.

jo amendola, the foreign for mr. sandusky has been holding court for at least 30 minutes, in a lot of ways revealing what they plan on to do in terms of the defense. as you mentioned, around 8:30 on the preliminary hearing, it was set to start, 8:230 on the dot. about 9 on 0 seconds in, the attorney asked for a sidebar. about two minutes after that, all of a sudden they cleared the courtroom. the preliminary hearing had been called off. the prosecution said they were fully prepared to present 11 witnesses this that preliminary hearing. afterwards they did not get into detail about the number of victims. there was also a rumor we might hear from mike mccareequeary as. they said the centerpiece -- the main reason was he wanted to question mike pluck query, wanted the credible of mike mcqueary. he was not going to have the opportunity to do that this morning. let's listen to what was said afterwards. >> today's decision was simply a tactical measure based upon an analysis of what was going to transpire. we would not hav