The state Attorney General's Office has filed a motion seeking a court order to stop what it says are improper subpoenas being issued by Jerry Sandusky's defense attorney to Pennsylvania State Police and other state officials.
According to the court papers filed Friday afternoon, defense attorney Joseph Amendola has issued subpoenas on forms provided by the Centre County Court to state police Commissioner Frank Noonan, the Penn State University police department and officials of other organizations.
Some of the subpoenas were sent with attachments or cover letters that reveal the names and birth dates of alleged victims in the child sexual abuse case, a violation of a March 13 court order, according to the filing.
"The commonwealth respectfully submits that this use of the subpoena power by defendant is manifestly improper, lacks any basis whatsoever in the law of this commonwealth, and is a misappropriation of the authority of this honorable court," Senior Deputy Attorney General Joseph E. McGettigan III wrote.
"Incredibly, they purport to direct the Pennsylvania State Police to appear with its complete, unredacted investigative file," McGettigan's motion says.
The subpoenas demand that state officials provide information and documents that are protected by grand jury secrecy rules, according to the attorney general's filing.
Sandusky, 68, is charged with sexually abusing 10 young boys, many of whom he met through his charity for disadvantaged children, between 1994 and 2009. He is scheduled to stand trial on 52 counts of child sexual abuse starting June 5.
Lawyers on both sides are under a gag order not to talk to the media.
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