In my opinion, Judge John Cleland takes the cake for the most corrupt and biased judge. This prosecutor in black robes is the only judge I have ever heard of who conducted a secret court meeting, with no court reporter, hidden from the public and not in his courtroom.
Don’t let the black robe fool you, Judge John Cleland had no interest in justice. He wanted Sandusky convicted quickly.
Judge Cleland held his hearing at a motel.
On December 12, 2011, Judge Cleland was present with Jerry Sandusky’s attorney, Joe Amendola, the prosecutors, including the deplorable Frank Fina, and District Magistrate Scott at the Hilton Garden Inn in State College. They met in a private room.
Better than court. When judges have to conduct extralegal meetings to ensure a conviction, there is no better place in Centre County than the Hilton Garden Inn.
I imagine readers think I am making up the story of a secret off-the-record, unrecorded meeting to ensure the fate of Jerry Sandusky, but the judge got caught, and in subsequent posts I will reveal what was said. But since Jerry Sandusky was innocent, the judge had to abandon the law to save Penn State.
Jerry Sandusky got a most unfair trial. But it turned out exactly like the judge wanted and set it up before the trial to ensure.
The defendant, Jerry Sandusky, was not present.
It was the night before the preliminary hearing when Judge Cleland held his “secret” meeting at the Hilton Garden Inn.
At the Hilton Garden Inn, they struck a deal that Amendola would waive Sandusky’s right to the preliminary hearing if the prosecution promised not to seek higher bail if additional accusers were forthcoming.
The prosecutors and Amendola also agreed to Judge Cleland’s demand for a super-rapid trial schedule.
The entire discussion was “off the record”.
Ethics challenged Joe Amendola
Of course, an ethical attorney would never have attended such a meeting, but Sandusky’s attorney was Joe Amendola.
He should have refused to attend a secret, unrecorded, un-transcribed meeting with Judge Cleland and prosecutor Fina to waive a preliminary hearing.
At the preliminary hearing, the defense could have questioned the lying pack of accusers about their mental health history, exposure to repressed memory therapy, civil attorneys offering millions for Sandusky abuse “memories”, and state police’s abusive interviewing practices.
Eight men lied their asses off, making up stories about Jerry Sandusky, knowing their fortunes were assured.
The other thing that Judge Cleland accomplished at the motel meeting – and both Amendola and Fina understood – was that there would be a sham trial to comply with Cleland’s “conviction-death-march” rapid trial schedule.
At the Hilton Garden Inn, defense attorney Amendola agreed to his client’s conviction by agreeing to an impossibly rapid trial schedule and waiving the preliminary hearing.
Porn king Frank Fina
Co-conspirators Fina-Cleland-Amendola did not tell anyone about the secret off-the-record motel meeting until 2016 – four years after the trial and conviction of Sandusky. It is possible that Amendola, Fina, and Clelanda criminally agreed to sabotage Sandusky’s case (like the PA Kids for Cash corruption scheme) to ensure a conviction.
Why So Fast?
I believe Cleland was given orders to convict Sandusky no later than summer 2102 to save the local economy from hundreds of millions of dollars in losses by preventing an NCAA “death penalty” for the PSU football program.
Backbiting serpentine Tom Corbett
The three conspirators also facilitated the political goals of Gov Tom Corbett, a mentor-ally of Cleland, Fina, and Acting Attorney General Linda Kelley.
Ethical, Who Me?
Sandusky attorney Joe Amendola seemed far more interested in what the media thought than winning the case.
An ethical attorney would never have attended such a hotel meeting and kept it secret from his client and co-counsel in the case. But we are talking about Joe Amendola.
An ethical defense attorney would not have stayed in the case if they had “lacked time to even review basic evidence” or had “no time to retain and hire essential expert witnesses,” as Amendola claimed in his “covering-up corruption” motions for additional time and to withdraw (both of which he pre-arranged with Cleland to lose).
Given the lack of time to prepare, Amendola had no ethical path, but to resign from the case – but he stayed and participated in a historically corrupt trial.
Why is Amendola’s Argument About Bail Bullshit?
Amendola said he waived the preliminary hearing because the prosecution said, “We’re going to add additional charges onto Sandusky’s case, and we’re going to ask for a million dollars bond,” which Sandusky couldn’t have met.
Amendola said he made a deal with the prosecution that if he waived the preliminary hearing, they wouldn’t raise Sandusky’s bond, and he could remain free on bond, pending the trial.
The prosecution did not want a preliminary hearing.
However, if the prosecutors had made a motion to raise the bail, Amendola could have opposed it. The district magistrate sets the bail, not the prosecution. Under the rules, there’s no valid reason why they should have raised the bail. Sandusky was not going to run. He was subject to home confinement. He presented no threat to the community. Amendola should have successfully kept the bond the same without waiving the preliminary hearing. Even if the magistrate raised the bail, Amendola could have appealed it to the Court of Common Pleas judge, John Cleland.
Instead, they have an off-the-record meeting at the Hilton Garden Inn the night before the preliminary hearing.
Judge Cleland was present. He could ultimately decide if he would raise the bond.
He did not say to the prosecutors that, based on the rules, there was no reason to raise the bond.
The Cleland Shuffle
Judge John Cleland
During the secret motel meeting, Cleland revealed why he would extort Sandusky. He wanted to rush the trial. He said at the meeting, “We’ve got to get this thing to trial.”
Most legal proceedings presided over by a judge are in courtrooms, not motels. A stenographer would have been present.
Was the “secret unreported meeting” an illegal agreement to “rig” the trial?
Vital Need for Preliminary Hearing
The judge had scheduled Sandusky’s preliminary hearing for December 13, 2011, a few days after two new perjurers, Sabastian Paden, and Ryan Rittmeyer, came forward with their lies, and prosecutors added new charges.
Sabastian Paden got $20 million for his perjury.
At the preliminary hearing, had the conspirators not agreed to cancel it, Amendola could have questioned alleged victims about mental health, criminal record, number and type of police and prosecutor interviews, the changes in their stories, memory-contaminating psychotherapy issues, repressed memory ideology, indoctrination issues, number and type of interviews, exposure to civil attorneys offering millions for abuse “memories,” the state police’s abusive interviewing practices and other essential information.
The basis for a good cross-examination at trial would have been the testimony at the preliminary hearing. The testimony at the preliminary hearing would have been different from what the accusers testified at trial.
The preliminary hearing results would have produced the predicate for a FRYE hearing that may have excluded many of the alleged victim witnesses. But a FRYE hearing would have delayed the trial.
It was essential to get testimony from the alleged victims on the record so that the defense knew who and what they were up against. If the witnesses changed their stories at trial, they could use that previous testimony to impeach them.
Instead, Joe Amendola met with prosecutors Joe McGettigan, Frank Fina, Jonelle Eshbach, and two judges—John Cleland, who would preside over the trial, and the district magistrate judge.
The conspirators agreed to waive the preliminary hearing and create an impossibly rapid trial schedule. If this is not corruption, Pennsylvania style, then nothing is corruption.
A federal investigation is warranted.
