Can this Penn State mess get any more bizarre?

Submitted by snackyx on

Joe Amendola is the lawyer who represents Jerry Sandusky, and apparently has a "colorful" background regarding his personal life:

Amendola in 1996 represented an age 16 teenager by the name of Mary Iavasile in her emancipation petition (to be legally freed from her parents' control) in Centre County on Sept. 3, 1996, filed weeks before her 17th birthday.  Amendola was almost 50.  He got her pregnant about that same time.  The teen gave birth 9 months later.  Amendola is the father.  They married in 2003, had another child, and are now divorced.

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/national/sandusky_lawyer_impregnated_teenage_7jKwQMCeBlm9RSdr9zeutK
 
 

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BILG

November 15th, 2011 at 1:24 PM ^

While nothing can cure the damage caused by such a monster, rest assured he will be the prison rape prize wherever he gets locked up. High profile pedophile = prison cum dumpster. Unfortunately, castration is not one of the possible punishments. I think it should be on the table, no pun intended, in all sex crime cases.

Joined: 08/31/2008

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JClay

November 15th, 2011 at 1:35 PM ^

What, that's wild. I don't think we should take comfort in prison rape. I think what the guy did is despicable, but we shouldn't throw our own morality away by cheering rape and castration, even for scumbags. When we throw common decency and humanity away -- even in the face of child abuse or terrorism -- we lose our own moral authority.

Joined: 09/14/2010

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ChiBlueBoy

November 15th, 2011 at 1:42 PM ^

Sandusky is despicable (if the allegations are true, and there seems to be serious evidence). Those who covered up his acts are disgusting. But our ability to condemn these types of acts is only as strong as our own moral rectitude. If we sink to their level through retribution, we lose any claim to justice.

Joined: 10/11/2011

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MadMonkey

November 15th, 2011 at 3:29 PM ^

  • "the degree of a nation’s civilization can be seen in the way it treats its prisoners". Fyodor Dostoyevsky

versus

  • "The test of the morality of a society is what it does for its children." 
    Dietrich Bonhoeffer

I am hoping both tenets are served, the truth is revealed, and justice is served.

Joined: 04/08/2010

MGoPoints: 8934

artds

November 15th, 2011 at 1:53 PM ^

The American Bar Association has been trying as of late to get state bar associations to consider amending their rules of professional conduct to make it an ethical violation for a lawyer to have sex with a client.

The problem mainly stems from divorce attorneys, whose clients often come to them while in a vulnerable, emotional state. The divorce bar is none too pleased with the idea, as you can imagine.

Joined: 09/04/2009

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ChiBlueBoy

November 15th, 2011 at 1:55 PM ^

They changed the rules in North Carolina (where I'm licensed as well as in MI). By rule, one can't have sex with a client while representing him/her unless the parties started having sex prior to the attorney representing the client. How it's enforced and interpreted, however, is that it's only improper if the attorney uses his/her authority as an attorney to obtain sex, e.g., by taking sexual favors in lieu of payment or threatening to not provide zealous representation. I think the obvious rule should be, "Don't sleep with your clients unless you were already in a sexual relationship." Bar Associations don't seem to want to enforce that, however. Sleeping with a client who is a minor is morally reprehensible. Whether it's illegal or a violation of professional standards, I leave to others to figure out.

Joined: 10/11/2011

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oriental andrew

November 15th, 2011 at 2:09 PM ^

I don't know anything about the DA, but the local Chicago news reported last night that the judge who freed Sandusky without bail is also on the board of the Second Mile charity.  At this point, she has not said she will recuse herself from any further proceedings, despite the clear (in my opinion) conflict of interest.  This whole mess is a, um, mess.

Joined: 06/30/2008

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WalterMitty

November 15th, 2011 at 2:44 PM ^

It sounded like the Prosecution does not know the identity of Victim#2? Sandusky's attorney says they "think we know the identity"? Of course they do. Sandusky would obviously know him. Sounded like they can pressure the poor kid into not testifying, without anyone protecting him, because the Prosecution doesn't know his name.. My point is how could Penn State not even have investigated enough to find out the victim's name?

Joined: 07/03/2008

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Jon06

November 15th, 2011 at 3:23 PM ^

they can't pressure the kid into not testifying because, i assume, the PA police could get search warrants for phone records, etc., if they have any evidence of witness tampering--which, btw, they do according to the grand jury report. (no idea why charges haven't been filed--maybe unsuccessful, merely attempted witness tampering isn't a crime?) 

but more importantly if they get the kid to testify nothing happened, the state will find out who he is. if anything, i imagine they'll find a different kid and get him to claim he was the kid in question and that nothing beyond sliding across the shower floor happened. because i'll bet that even if mcqueary et al can nail down a date for the alleged rape, they won't be able to nail down dates for the kids in question. that'll be tricky, i think.

Joined: 09/19/2009

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Engin77

November 15th, 2011 at 4:15 PM ^

were not notified of either the 2000 incident (witnessed by a janitor), nor the 2002 incident (witnessed by McQueary), because they were not notified. The janitor did not report because he did not want to lose his job. McQueary's report went to the AD and to VP Schultz, to whom the University Police report, but Schultz did not involve the University Police department.
The University Police *did* investigate the 1998 incident, and sent their reports to the Centre County prosecutor's office, which chose not to prosecute.

Joined: 07/02/2008

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