A new judge has been assigned to handle Jerry Sandusky's preliminary hearing next month on charges that the former Penn State assistant football coach sexually abused eight boys over 15 years.
The Administrative Office of Pennsylvania Courts said Wednesday that Robert E. Scott, a senior district judge in Westmoreland County, would take over the case after Centre County court officials sought an out-of-county jurist.
A statement by the court system says Scott, on the bench since 1964, has no known connections to Penn State or The Second Mile charity Sandusky founded for at-risk children.
The case previously had been assigned to District Judge Leslie Dutchcot, who donated to The Second Mile in 2009. She set Sandusky's bail at $100,000, unsecured after prosecutors had asked to set bail at more than half a million dollars.
Assigning a new judge was not a move to replace Dutchcot, according to a spokesman for the courts. Centre County operates on a system of rotation, which means even though Dutchcot presided over the arraignment, she may not have ended up presiding over the preliminary hearing, according to spokesman Art Heinz.
The hearing is Dec. 7.
