HARRISBURG — Former Penn State assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky argued in a new appeal Wednesday that pretrial publicity, leaks and unprepared defense lawyers are among the reasons a judge should throw out his 45-count conviction for child sexual abuse.

Sandusky says the criminal proceedings violated his constitutional rights, prosecutors engaged in misconduct and his attorneys were ineffective during his 2012 trial and an earlier round of appeals.

“The commonwealth’s entire case was a house of cards resting on testimony that trial counsel should have exposed as incompetent, unreliable and inadmissible,” wrote his new lawyer, Al Lindsay. “The failure to even attempt to do so is inexcusable.”

He claims Sandusky’s right to a fair trial was “crushed under a stampede of vitriol, rage and prejudice” that warrants a new trial and ultimately the dismissal of charges.

State prosecutors said they are reviewing the petition and plan to respond.

Sandusky, 71, was convicted of sexually abusing 10 boys, some on campus, and is serving a 30- to 60-year sentence.

The petition revisits and elaborates on many of the arguments his lawyers have previously made, including that accusers’ stories changed over time and that they may have been motivated by a desire to cash in.

A previous appeal was denied by the state Superior Court, and the Supreme Court declined to take it up.