Joseph Amendola, Jerry Sandusky's Lawyer, Impregnated Teenage Girl: Report

On Monday evening, former Penn State football coach and accused child predator Jerry Sandusky broke his silence by participating in a telephone interview with NBC's Bob Costas. Although Sandusky admitted to showering with young boys, he maintained his innocence regarding the charges of sexual assault. Joining Costas in the NBC studio was the lawyer, Joseph Amendola, tasked with proving Sandusky's innocence.

Amendola took a few questions from Costas, revealing a potential blockbuster turn regarding witness testimony in the high-profile case.

Read the full transcript here.

Having taken the job of representing Sandusky in a trial surely to be followed around the nation, Amendola has also opened his own past to public examination. Thus far, revelations have not established him as a paragon of sound judgment regarding young people. According The Daily, Amendola may have engaged in sexual relations with a teen during the 1990s.

According to Centre County Courthouse documents obtained by the iPad newspaper, the man representing Sandusky impregnated a teenage girl and later married her. Per the report, Mary Iavasile's mother alleged in an interview that her daughter gave birth to Amendola's child before she was 18 years old. He had reportedly served as her attorney when she was 17.

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Comments

[as2991]

10:43 PM on 07/23/2012

wow... pedophile hiring a rapist lawyer what's next serial murder family?

[JayJayInMI]

12:17 AM on 06/23/2012

Maybe Amendola and Sandusky trolled the junior high playgrounds for each other -- Sandusky for boys, Amendola for girls.

[Paris215]

07:52 AM on 06/22/2012

Anyone who disputes this man's guilt is complicit in the abuse. SHAME on all of you who would defend this abuser of young and defenseless children! You should go to jail with him!

[Kaaper]

09:37 PM on 06/20/2012

I have started a petition to have the Ethics Committee of the Pennsylvania Bar Association to consider disbarment proceeding against Joseph Amendola, Esq.

http://www.change.org/petitions/pennsylvania-bar-association-disbar-attorney-joseph-amendola

[Glenn Stephens]

08:55 PM on 12/14/2011

This is a three-fer in terms of depravity.

First, if the allegation is true he could have been charged with corrupting a minor, since she was 16 and he was 49.

Second, he violated PA's professional ethicsfor attorneys by having sex with a client.

Third, she worked for him. 49 lawyer boss. Emancipated teen employee. Sounds like sexual harassment - unwilling. How could she consent? She wasn't the age of consent (in PA the age of consent is 18 in cases where the male is more than 4 years old than the teen).

Fourth, leaving aside legality and ethics, this is just plain gross. No 16 year old would be attracted to him. He is bald, has a bad combover, unattactive, and has bad teeth. He had to exploit a power relationship to bed her.

Just plain nasty.

[PaulaDinVA]

11:02 PM on 12/14/2011

:) I couldn't agree more!

[bobsoph]

04:00 PM on 12/03/2011

What,if anything did, the Pennsylvania Bar Association do about his law license if he in fact impregnated a client who was a minor ?

[Slator]

09:44 PM on 12/04/2011

Not to mention an apparent conflict of interest.

[Glenn Stephens]

08:56 PM on 12/14/2011

Someone should file an ethics complaint.

[Lizaxyz]

02:54 PM on 11/23/2011

what a dou che!

[AHuffPostReader]

09:06 PM on 11/22/2011

This man is acting like a reality TV star, making his round of the talk shows. Isn't this unethical in some way, to talk about an ongoing criminal case like this? Even the attorney general refused to answer questions beyond what was in the grand jury presentment.

[deneufeldt]

01:13 PM on 11/18/2011

Can this possible get any worse?

[iversteve]

11:05 AM on 11/17/2011

Why wasn't he disbarred for sleeping with a client; a child client, no less?

[Glenn Stephens]

08:57 PM on 12/14/2011

He should be.

[MsKia]

09:14 AM on 11/17/2011

At the beginning of the year, someone I have a high regard for said : 2011 will be the year of exposing". Boy was he right!

[SteveDenver]

03:10 AM on 11/17/2011

This attorney obviously has a deep understanding for Sandusky and his craving for youngsters.

[PaulaDinVA]

10:23 PM on 11/16/2011

Whilte 16 is age of consent in PA, this lawyer impregnated his young client who was seeking emancipation from her paretns. He capitalized on her lack of parental oversight big-time. Studies have revealed he human brain, while fully developed physically at 16, is not fully FUNCTIONAL until 23-25. The reasoning portion does not develope all necessary neurotransmitters that manifest logical reasoning skills utnil 23-25. IMHO, age of consent in all states should be 21 with this knowledge. Many girls have kids as a result of sex w/boys their own age. The least we can afford them is that adults who have influence over them don't change their lives so drastically that they have to make a lifetime commitment / the decision of a lifetime until they're capable of proper reasoning skills. I'm just saying!

[DCX2]

01:17 PM on 12/08/2011

I'm several years older than my girlfriend (though not nearly as much as Amendola was older than his client). We fell in love with each other while she was 17. We intentionally avoided serious intimacy until after her 18th birthday, despite being above the age of consent and having parental permission; we were okay with waiting several months for each other.

We are both very much still in love, over four years later (we are waiting until she's financially stable before we consider marriage or children). We are almost perfectly compatible, and have not spent more than 24 hours apart in over three years.

And yet you would seek to deny us our love because we don't fit your prescribed age thresholds? You don't know either of us or our story. In some way, I saved her; she was a C-student at best, but I helped and encouraged her and now she's on the Dean's list in college.

You should think long and hard before you try to advocate laws that will make criminals out of good, honest people.

[PaulaDinVA]

03:47 PM on 12/08/2011

My opinion was thoroughly contemplated. The 'threshold' would allow for individuals to fully experience life as young adulst, mature & make adult decisions w/re to life path & relationships.

Many young female adults lose the "growing into adulthood" phase when wooed by grown male adults. Peer suitors are in no way as alluring, interesting, successful, independent, as the adult suitors and cannot afford the thrills an adult suitor might provide as they have limited life experience, financial resources & independence.

Being not fully developed & unable to make well-rounded reasonable, logical decisions until 25 (proven by Ntl institutes of Health & other univ studies), young adults who jump into adulthood situations w/out the tools necessary to deal w/same are often times taken advantage of & manipulated.

While historically acceptable I do not condone such relations. 1 - women will soon make $ 4 $ that of their male counterparts & 2 -healthcare innovations allow for us to have children later in life. All affording us to make life choices much better suited for our welfare & security.

I think condoning knight in shining armour themes robs our young women & makes them beholden to the man who 'saved' them. You have no way of knowing what your young girlfriend would have achieved in college w/her "C- at best" gpa. Is it not possible she'd have managed to hit a stride in college w/out your intimate relationship, had you just been friends/a mentor of sorts? I would think yes.

[Glenn Stephens]

09:01 PM on 12/14/2011

Oh no problem then. After you started doing her, her grades went up.

So no age limits, just grade improvement?

Out with the old pervy lines, like "hey little girl, want a lollipop?" Now the line will be, "hey little girl, want to improve this grades?"

[educatormary]

08:13 PM on 11/16/2011

Reflecting upon past observations, I find it amazing that any attorney worth their weight would ever agree to a client speaking to anyone in an interview in such a case that is bound to tried in the media. I question the veracity of the attorney and his client at this juncture.

[AHuffPostReader]

07:48 PM on 11/16/2011

Even though the public is convinced of Sandusky's guilt, he deserves a fair trial and a better lawyer than Amendola. This lawyer is an idiot. He jeopardized his client's case for his 15 minutes of fame on national television - he knew many more people would watch him if he could get Sandusky on the phone. Sandusky should fire this lawyer and hire a big shot criminal defense lawyer from DC like Paterno has reportedly done. Facts have to be proven beyond reasonable doubt in criminal cases and by making those on admissions on national television, the tape of which will now be "exhibit A" during the trial, he makes it all too easy for the prosecuters to prove his guilt. I am not sure if Amendola hasn't breached his contract in some manner, I think attorney-client contracts contain clauses which say that the attorney wlll zealously represent the client and fight for his best interests. Getting Sandusky on the phone on a whim in such an unprofessional manner seems very unprofessional to me. Attorneys are supposed to coach their clients on what to say and what to not say before they go to court or make public statements.

[iversteve]

11:02 AM on 11/17/2011

Veracity?

[AHuffPostReader]

11:52 AM on 11/17/2011

What do you mean - veracity of what?

[AHuffPostReader]

11:54 AM on 11/17/2011

I am convinced of his guilt too, but remeber O.J. Simpson? I think we all believe he committed the murder but he was acquitted because of a weak defense/strong prosecution. In a court of law, public opinion is not enough to convict Sandusky.