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

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

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

. >> sandusky's attorney joe amendola went on to say that he and his client decided last night to waiveng because the defense wouldn't have enough time to question prosecution witnesses. he said sandusky maintains his innocence. >> we're ready to defend, we've always been ready to defend. today's waiver has nothing to do with conceding anything. there are no plea negotiations. there will be no plea negotiations. 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 '96. this is the game of his life. >> joining me live is attorney for alleged victim number one and victim number six. michael, you were in court today when sandusky decided to waive his preliminary hearing. how did your client, alleged victim number one, react? >> he reacted with a mixture of emotions. obviously a great sense of relief. victim one, my client, is young. he just turned 18 years old. as you can imagine, he felt a tremendous sense of relief. at the same time, he was angry. he was mentally prepared. i had dinner with him last night. and he is ready

. >> sandusky's attorney joe amendola went on to say he and his client decided last night to waive these the defense wouldn't have enough time to request prosecution witnesses. and he said sandusky maintains his innocence. >> we're ready to defend. we've always been ready to defend. today's waiver has nothing to do with conceding anything. there have been no plea negotiations. there will be no plea negotiations. this is a fight to the death. this is to fight for jerry sandusky's life. this is the game of his life. >> joining me now live is mike bonnie, attorney for the alleged victim number one and howard janet, attorney for alleged victim number six. i appreciate both of you being with us. michael, you were in court when sandusky decided to waive his preliminary hearing. how did your client, alleged victim number one, react? >> anderson, he reacted with an interesting mixture of emotions. obviously, there was a great sense of relief. victim one, my client, is young. he just turned 18 years old. and as you can imagine, he felt a tremendous sense of relief. at the same time, he was angr

and joe amendola told me, he has provided "a wealth of information."they go through this process, from the defense point of view, the stories from the accusers, they just don't add up is what he is saying. >> in the wakes of accusations of penn state and syracuse, yesterday you reported on disturbing new allegations focused on the head of the prestigious amateur athletic union, the aau. what's the latest on that investigation? >> an investigation that's growing. the aau says internal compliance officers with memphis police are looking into allegations that the former head of the aau, a very prestigious agency as you talked about, bobby dodd, he is facing accusations now from two former players, who men who were teenagers and played on a team in the '80s, they say he sexually abused them during that time late yesterday. the new interim president spoke publicly for the first time. >> aau has contacted the memphis police department. we have provided them with the limited information we have up to this point. and we have given them our sincere commitment t

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.

joe amendola, who we have seen and heard so much from, he has said this will be a fight to the death. he says there is no plea deal in the works. 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 lit

you know, as recently as last night, joe amendola, sandusky's defense lawyer, was assuring reporterswas going to go ahead with this hearing. he had been giving every indication in recent days he was preparing for his defense, preparing to question these witnesses who were going to testify, try and poke holes in their story, and then no sooner did the proceeding begin this morning, judge robert scott asks if anybody has anything to say. joe amendola pops up, there's a sidebar, and the next thing we know, there's a continuous, he's waived his right to the preliminary hearing. now, first thing that should be pointed out is, for the prosecution, this is a good thing. they get to preserve their case. they don't have to lay any of their]m;xñ cards on the table. they had 11 witnesses prepared to testify today. now none of themqó have to do and the prosecution says they're ready to go. what it means is hard to say. there's already talk this could be the precursor to a plea bargain, although certainly, jerry sandusky's comments there that we played at the start don't seem to indicate that. i

officials told cbs news sandusky received no advanced notice of the arrest, something his lawyer, joe amendola, today wanted to. >> if this is the way the case is going to be handled by the other side, we can do things to kind of make it miserable, too. >> reporter: sandusky's lawyer told us that he is trying to come up with that $250,000 bail, but even if he is able to post bail, scott, he'll be subject to strict conditions-- electronic monitoring, house arrest, and no unsupervised contact with minors. >> pelley: anna thank you very much. tonight we have a rare look inside the revolution in syria. since march, protesters have been trying to overthrow the 40- year dictatorship of the assad family. the u.n. estimates that 4,000 civilians have been killed. but we don't know much more, because the assad government has banned independent reporting. but cbs news correspondent charissa ward managed to slip into syria with a camera. tonight, she shows us how the rebels cope with casualties from the street battles that they fight with the syrian army. they cannot show their faces. they risk their live

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

>> oh, sure, absolutely. >> joe amendola raised the possibility 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 become a fact witness in the case, then he should stop representing jerry sandusky and get on the witness stand himself. what he is doing is he is 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 claimed with an iota of evidence to back that claim up there was somehow collusion. the fact is there. 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 mention extremely offensive, for him to level those charges against these victims. >> mike boni, appreciate your time and we will be speaking to you, i'm sure, again very soon. >> my pleasure. thank you. >>> we want to bring in now jerry sandusky's lawyer, j

the defense lawyer, joe amendola asked the judge for a sidebar. and judge robert scott announced sandusky was waiving his right to a preliminary hearing. there would be no testimony today. >> we're going to put together the best possible defense that exists. stay the course to fight for four quarters. >> reporter: prosecutors were prepared to call 11 witnesses, many of them alleged victims in what promised to be explosive testimony laying out the state's case in detail for the first time. one potential witness, penn state assistant coach, mike mcqueary, who's claim he reported seeing sandusky sexually abusing a 10-year-old boy in 2002, has been disputed by other witnesses. 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

basically, what joe amendola tells me is this was a trade-off.ntlessly, will you waive this pre-trial hearing, will you waive it? no, no. up until today. he said he made a deal. basically, he did not get to hear some of the testimony from some of the alleged victims here, but what he did get in return is that jerry sandusky's bail will not change. it will stay the same and he will be able to stay in home confinement. he also was promised, he says, by the prosecutors that if more charges come in this case, that they will, in fact, call him and allow him to turn sandusky in, instead of showing up and arresting him like they did last time. he also says that he will get some access to discovery issues a bit earlier than he would have without this deal. he said it was a close decision, about 51% to 49% on whether he would actually waive the hearing this morning. and this is something to consider. and i know you're talking with the panel, so maybe this is something you guys can broach, but everybody has talked all along about joe amendola and how he ha

joe amendola says the former penn state football coach still maintains he's innocent of the charges against him. 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

. >> reporter: attorney joe amendola telling nbc news he's ex-moplo- exploring how and how often accusers may have been in contact with each other prior to charges being filed in the case. >> is it possible that all of them reacted the same way to the abuse by staying in touch with jerry and maintaining contact with him. i find it strange and what it smacks of is some kind of collusion. >> reporter: one attorney said, they're trying to raise any sort of doubt and throw up a smoke screen. i can't speak for everyone, but i can speak for my client, victim number four, and to suggest he is colluding is preposterous. there are also new questions tonight about another key witness in the case. penn state assistant coach mike mcqueary said he told investigators he saw sandusky sodomizing a young boy in a shower at the university athletic facility, then that night rushed home to tell his father and a family friend. to this point, he's refused to discuss the alleged incident in public. >> that will all come out. i just don't have anything to say about that right now. and sometime there will be some

. >> reporter: sandusky attorney joe amendola said what he called a tactical decision was made late last night. but he didn't waste the opportunity to preview his defense before a sea of t.v. and print reporters. >> what greater motivation could there be than mn? >> 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 conti

we should mention off the top that is when sandusky's lawyer stepped in and joe amendola said, to clarifybut not sexually attracted. >> correct, yes. >> he is trying to make that differentiation. why did sandusky do this with you? >> he said he did it because he feels like his life's work with children has been twisted is the word that he used, and, in fact, his lawyer joe amendola also said essentially that, you know, what the prosecutor, you know, essentially sandusky's actions and the way he interacted with children could be seen either as a man who really likes children or fitting the profile of a pedophile. >> in that question of why he did this, he also addressed the claims that paterno was approached, that he knew about this and said, no, joe paterno never approached me, he never came to me and said i was accused of sexual abuse. >> that's right. he was investigated in 1998 by the university police and then again there was an incident in 2002. they did not go to the police over. but in both of those instances, he said after -- following those incidents, joe paterno never spoke to h

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 going

there earlier this week when i sat down with joe amendola. he said that people who know jerry know he is a big kid and his maturity level is at a kid's level and they say people who know him aren't surprised at him saying i would shower and horse around with kids and in the course of playing football or wrestling with kids this might have happened but the people who don't know him and don't understand his personality wouldn't get that. that's what his attorney said earlier this week. as far as the decision to put him on tv and to do this again, i asked his attorney last week, earlier this the week, what the reaction to the first interview was and he said he got good feedback from colleagues saying you had to have him out there and make a statement and proclaim his innocence and that's what we are seeing again today. >>> i want to go to syracuse now. jim boeheim said he should have taken the child molestation against bernie fine more seriously. fine was fired after fine was fired after explosive comments from his wife were made public in a tap

but sandusky's attorney, joe amendola, decided to waive the hearing after he says prosecutors vowed to object if he challenged the credibility of witnesses during cross-examinati cross-examination. like sandusky, amendola resorted to football metaphors. >> this is a fight to the death, this is the fight of jerry sandusky's death. this goes beyond the penn state-miami game in '86. this is the game of his life. >> reporter: for sandusky's alleged victims, who had been preparing weeks for the hearing, this is painful. >> he's a coward. >> reporter: ken sugs represents victim six. >> they need their chance to confront him in open court. >> reporter: another big witness spared having to testify tuesday was penn state assistant coach mike mcqueary, whose claim to the grand jury that he reported seeing sandusky sexually assaulting a 10-year-old boy in the shower in 2002 has been disputed by other grand jury witnesses. >> i don't really have anything to say about it right now. and that will come out in the legal setting. >> reporter: but legal analysts like wesley oliver say the case may never

and joe amendola, who is the primary attorney, made that call in conjunction with the client. and they chose it in consultation with me briefly, but they chose it between them. i don't disagree with their decision to take the certainty and give up -- because we do have extensive information that we've developed on our own. we've interviewed some of these witnesses through the defense investigator. we have already seen that mcqueary's testimony is falling apart. he's basically said by the grand jury to be an incredibly credible witness and has now turned out to be discredible. we've made a meeting of the minds with the prosecutors that we wouldn't have made if they made the significant concessions on future bail issues. >> of course, the cynic would say that the reason you've done this is 11 people were going to take the stand today and potentially tomorrow and make a series of horrendous allegations against your client including child rape. many of those would have been people who were very young at the time they say these accusers -- and i say they are accusers, they've not b

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. this happened at the intersection of washington grove lane and mid county highway. montgomery county police say a ride-on bus hit a large traffic cone. that cone hit the man, knocked him into the trenth. it was about 16 feet deep. he was expected to recover. osha is investigating. >>> surveyors in wood bridge made a grisly discovery today. they came across a badly decomposed body. they made the discovery near dale boulevard and bone eat a fitzgerald drive. the prince william police are trying to figur

joe amendola says the former penn state assistant coach continues to maintain his innocence and any media buzz to the kroer is completely unfounded. >>> turning to california now where those santa ana winds are causing quite a mess as they often do. 30 to 50-mile-an-hour winds knocked down trees and power lines. more than 80,000 customers lost power overnight, including parts of lax. more than 20 flights were diverted while debris was cleared from runways. one gust was clocked at 127 miles an hour. a red flag warning in california for potential fire risks due to the winds. >>> also florida's governor is now asking all state universities to take a good look and re-evaluate their hazing policies. governor rick scott made the request following the death of a florida a&m band member. "regardless of the conclusion following the investigation, hazing should be strictly condemned on our college and university campuses." >>> also another elaborate tunnel linking mexico to the u.s. has been shut down. that's because officials say the passageway was used to transport marijuana. 32 tons of pot was s