TIME: The media was all dressed up with nowhere to go. The tiny town of Bellefonte, Pa., usually home to just over 6,000 people, was buzzing with activity and attention unprecedented for the sleepy locale. It’s understandable, then, that the bombshell announcement by Jerry Sandusky, the embattled Penn State coach facing more than 50 counts of child abuse, to waive his hearing caused quite a surprise. By waiving the hearing, the case advances directly to a trial. And today’s move, while a surprise, was not unprecedented. Defense attorneys sometimes waive a hearing to avoid pre-trial publicity. According to the New York Daily News, Joseph Amendola, Sandusky’s attorney, had insisted on such a hearing. The reason for the hearing is to determine if there’s cause for a trial. Amendola noted that the bar was low for his client, as the case had already been through a grand jury. Amendola said his defense team “wouldn’t have 
been able to provide a reasonable cross-examination” because they had no witnesses for their side. The testimony, then, would have been a repeat of the very-graphic grand jury report, which “really would have left us with the worst of all worlds.” MORE
MSNBC: Former Penn State assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky told reporters as he left the courthouse that he would “stay the course, to fight for four quarters” and “wait for the opportunity to present our side.” Added Sandusky’s lawyer, Joseph Amendola, “We couldn’t do that today.” Audible gasps were heard when the announcement of the waiver was made in the courtroom in Bellefonte, Pennsylvania, about 10 miles from the Penn State campus in State College. MORE
DEADSPIN: At one point, Amendola discussed the possibility that Mike McQueary witnessed a rape, told Joe Paterno and two university administrators, and no one did anything except tell Sandusky to stay out of the locker room with kids. To anyone who believes that version of events, Amendola said, “I suggest you dial 1-800-REALITY.” We did. Here’s what we got:
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RELATED: Dave Kaplewicz, a 42-year-old information-technology supervisor from Mechanicsburg, a Penn State grad and alumni association member, took a day off and rose at 3 a.m. to make sure he got a parking spot near the courthouse. He obtained one of the 100 “citizen’s passes” to the hearing through a lottery. He said he was pleased with the outcome because he is anxious for the trial to be done with, and because the waiver limits the barrage of negative Penn State-associated headlines. MORE
RELATED: Wesley Oliver, a professor at the Widener University School of Law in Harrisburg, Pa., who attended Tuesday’s hearing, said the Sandusky case was custom-made for a plea bargain. The prosecution and the defense could both be satisfied with a sentence of, say 10 to 12 years, short enough for Mr. Sandusky to perhaps die free but heavy enough for the prosecution to say it did its job, Mr. Oliver explained. Many of the charges include misdemeanors as lesser offenses, he added, and the jury could choose to apply those charges instead of the felonies. If applied to the letter, conviction on such charges could result in lighter sentences than the prosecution hopes for. “A plea guarantees the sentence,” Mr. Oliver said. MORE