One of the 10 victims who accused former Penn State defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky of sexual abuse is preparing to recant his testimony, according to court documents obtained Friday by The Athletic.
Sandusky, 82, is due to appear in court in Bellefonte, Pa., on Sept. 8 for an evidentiary hearing after a judge granted his request to review evidence that the accuser, recognized as R.R. or Victim 10 in court proceedings, has recanted or substantially disavowed his trial testimony.
News of the trial was first reported by Onward State.
In a signed affidavit from June 30, 2025, Victim 10 said he felt pushed to change his story. His testimony “evolved,” he said, after “leading questions, intense investigative pressure and psychological manipulation.”
“I was misled repeatedly during the process, particularly by prosecutor Joe McGettigan,” Victim 10 said in the affidavit. “I now regret my role in facilitating what I have come to view as a deeply flawed prosecution.”
McGettigan, who died in December 2025, was the lead prosecutor in the case that rocked Penn State and led to the firing of legendary football coach Joe Paterno in 2011 in the wake of the allegations.
Even if the charges involving Victim 10 are dismissed, Sandusky is unlikely to be released from prison, where he is serving a 30- to 60-year sentence after being convicted in 2012 on 45 charges of sexual abuse.
Sandusky walking into a courthouse in 2016 to appeal his conviction. (Photo: Justin K. Aller / Getty Images)
In their motion for a trial, Sandusky’s attorneys highlighted Victim 10’s claim that he was told that the trauma may have fragmented his memory, and that he “could safely affirm details that he did not fully recall.”
“I was led to believe that failing to testify in the manner prosecutors expected would allow a dangerous man to escape justice,” Victim 10 wrote, later saying he was unaware that his statements “would be used to secure a de facto life sentence for Mr. Sandusky.”
Victim 10 said he was coached during pretrial meetings, one of which lasted approximately six hours, where he was asked repeatedly to reframe his account until his responses aligned with what appeared to be desired by the prosecution team.
“I ask the courts, and any fair-minded reader, to consider that my testimony may have reflected not willful falsehood, but a tragic convergence of memory uncertainty, professional suggestion, prosecutorial coercion and my own vulnerability,” he wrote.
According to the filing from Sandusky’s attorneys, Victim 10’s estranged wife is also prepared to testify that Victim 10 initially denied being abused by Sandusky.
In a statement to ABC News, prosecutors with the Pennsylvania Attorney General’s office said the woman’s opinion “thirteen years after defendant’s trial, pondering what she thinks may or may not have really happened to (Victim 10) when he was 10 years old, or any other Sandusky child victim for that matter, is irrelevant and inadmissible.”
Victim 10, who later received a $5.5 million settlement from a civil suit against Penn State, did not immediately respond to a request for clarification about whether he is recanting all of his accusations, or just some of the details. He also did not respond to a request for clarification about what will happen with the settlement money he received.
Attorney Andrew Shubin, whom Victim 10 named in his affidavit as part of the legal counsel who represented him in the civil case against Penn State, declined to comment on the story and would not say if he still represents Victim 10.
Sandusky has maintained his innocence since the initial accusations. Sandusky was an assistant on Paterno’s football staff from 1969 to 1999. His nonprofit, The Second Mile, was founded in 1977 and operated until 2011, when Sandusky was arrested. The foundation’s purported mission was to help underprivileged youth, and it was through the foundation that Sandusky met several of the victims.
