Two of the lead investigators in
the Jerry Sandusky case took the stand several times this morning and answered differently under oath when asked if they had been discussing testimony in the courthouse hallways.
State police Trooper Scott Rossman and retired trooper Joseph Leiter both testified several times about a tape-recording made during the police interview with
the 28-year-old known as Victim 4.
And when they were called to the stand for the last time, defense attorney Karl Rominger asked them both if they had discussed Leiter?s testimony in the courthouse corridors.Rossman replied that they did not.
Leiter, when asked the same question, said they did.
The recording had been played by the defense to show that, contrary to
Leiter?s first testimony on the stand, he did share with Victim 4 how many other accusers there were, and what they had said in interviews with police.
In the recording, while Victim 4 was taking a smoke break, his civil attorney can be heard whispering suggestions to Leiter on how to get him to open up.
?Can we at some point in time say to him, ?Listen we?ve interviewed other kids, and other kids have told us there was intercourse and that they?ve admitted, you know, is there anything else you want to tell us???
Trooper Joseph Leiter replied, ?Yep, we do that with all the time other kids.?
When Victim 4 returned to the room, Leiter told him that nine others were interviewed and talked about abuse that was more than just things like ?massages? or ?wandering hands,? as Victim 4 is heard saying at the start of the tape before leaving the room.
?Especially when it goes on for an extended period of time, it leads to more than touching and feeling ... leads to oral sex,? Leiter says in the tape recording.
Earlier in the day, Leiter was asked by attorney Joe Amendola if he ever told Victim 4 what other witnesses had said.
?We never told them anything that anyone else had ever told us,? Leiter replied.
?Are you certain about that??
?Yes.?
Later, when questioned about telling Victim 4 the number of other accusers, he said, ?We never gave a specific number of people, not that I recall.?
The recording that was played starts and ends with a disclosure -- first that the recording was turned off and then that it was back on.
Rominger, in court, called it an ?accidental recording.?
When the civil attorney, Harrisburg-based Ben Andreozzi, took the stand, he defended his suggestions to Leiter, saying that even though Victim 4 never specifically told him about allegations of oral sex before that interview with police, ?he had told me something else happened and he wasn?t comfortable talking about it.?
When questioned later by prosecutor Joe McGettigan, both Andreozzi and Leiter testified later that they never Victim 4 -- or in Leiter?s case, any of the accusers -- what to say.