Former Penn State football coach Jerry Sandusky abruptly waived his right to a preliminary hearing at which eight young men accusing him of child sex abuse when they were boys were set to testify against him.
Shortly after arriving at a packed Centre County courthouse at 8 a.m., Sandusky and his attorney, Joe Amendola, joined two prosecutors and a court reporter in the judge's chambers. A second attorney, Karl Rominger, arrived at court with Sandusky and Amendola and went with them into chambers.
Amendola had previously said they would not waive the hearing.
Sandusky paused outside the courthouse to say, "We fully intend to put together the best possible defense that we can do, to stay the course, to fight for four quarters... We want the opportunity to present our side."
As Sandusky left, he ignored a reporter's shouted question, "Sandusky, do you still maintain your innocence?" Amendola answered for him, replying, "Yes."
Marc Costanzo, a spokesman for the prosecution, said they were ready but were pleased by the waiver.
"The waiver means that the victims in this case, although they were ready, will not have to testify and will not be cross examined at this time," he said.
Since the alleged victims will still testify at the trial, it "avoids having to testify a second time."
Costanzo said the waiver means "all the charges advance to the trial stage." He said Sandusky will be arraigned on Jan. 11.
The prosecutor said there had been no discussion of a plea bargain.
Pennsylvania Office of Attorney General via Commonwealth Media Services/AP Photo
Penn State Scandal: Sex Accusers to Face Sandusky
Watch Video Sandusky, the once revered assistant football coach, is free from jail on $250,000 bail while the case goes through the court system. The showdown would have marked the first time that he and his alleged victims confronted each other over the charges that have rippled through the highest levels of the university.
Arrangements had been made for the boys, now young men, to not give their names in court, be driven to the hearing in unmarked vehicles, and enter through a private entrance. But they would have had to face Sandusky in court.
Lawyers for several of the 10 boys who have accused the 67-year-old Sandusky have said their clients wee determined to speak up at today's hearing.
"It's very difficult. It's trying, but it's something that needs to be done to serve justice," said Howard Janet, the lawyer for a 24-year-old man identified in the grand jury report as Victim 6.
"It's an opportunity for him to set the record straight in response to charges by Sandusky and his lawyer that he hasn't been telling the truth and these other young men haven't been telling the truth," Janet told ABC News.
Sandusky's legal team has challenged some of the accounts of the coach's accusers. Last month, Sandusky's lawyer Joe Amendola said that Victim 1 was retaliating against a tough mentor and had exaggerated his story after getting attention from prosecutors.
Amendola also said that Victim 2, who Sandusky is accused of having raped in a Penn State shower, claimed he was never molested. Victim 2 is expected to take the stand today.
The account by key witness Mike McQueary has also been challenged. McQueary was a graduate assistant in 2002 when he witnessed Sandusky allegedly raping a boy in the locker room showers, according to the grand jury report. The boy was bracing himself with his hands against the shower walls, according to the report.
McQueary, who is currently on a leave from his coaching position, left the area and told his father what he allegedly saw, and went on to tell head football coach Joe Paterno the next day, the grand jury report said.
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