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Josh Moyer, ESPN Staff Writer 8y

Jerry Sandusky's appeal focuses on Victim 2's conflicting statements

College Football, Penn State Nittany Lions

BELLEFONTE, Pa. -- Jerry Sandusky listened quietly during Day 2 of his three-day appeals hearing Monday, as his lawyers continued to argue for a new trial or for the reversal of his 2012 child sex abuse conviction.

On the first day of the hearing, when Sandusky testified, his lawyers focused on what they claimed was ineffective counsel. On Monday, at the Centre County Courthouse, Sandusky attorney Al Lindsay specifically argued that a grand jury leak and the conflicting statements of Victim 2 did not give his client a fair trial.

Victim 2 and one other victim did not testify during the 2012 trial, while eight others did. The prosecution did not call him as a witness because they believed he wasn't fully credible. Retired Cpl. Joseph Leiter testified Monday that, shortly before Sandusky was arrested, the man known as Victim 2 denied that Sandusky abused him.

"I hope we tried to make this clear," Lindsay said near the steps of the courthouse. "All of these witnesses that testified against Sandusky had significant credibility problems."

Sandusky offered no testimony Monday. He instead sat silently in a red jumpsuit, with his family looking on in the front row. He is currently serving a 30- to 60-year sentence in Greene State Prison after being found guilty on 45 of 48 counts of child sex abuse.

A majority of the four-hour hearing focused on the abuse of Victim 2, who previously self-identified as the boy that former Penn State coach Mike McQueary spotted in the shower with Sandusky in 2001. But Lindsay said he could not call the man known as Victim 2 to the stand.

"We haven't been able to find him," Lindsay said.

The last day of Sandusky's appeals hearing begins 9:30 a.m. Tuesday. Among those whom the defense plans to call to the stand include two state prosecutors involved in the 2012 case, Joseph McGettigan and Frank Fina.

Lindsay does not anticipate the judge will issue a ruling Tuesday.

Sandusky previously lost direct appeals to the state's Supreme and Superior courts. The Monday hearing falls under the state's Post-Conviction Relief Act and is confined to newly discovered evidence, constitutional violations and ineffective lawyering.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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