Jerry Sandusky found guilty in child sex abuse trial
(CBS/AP) A jury found Jerry Sandusky guilty Friday in his child sex abuse trial, believing prosecutors' portrayal of him as a serial molester who groomed his victims and not finding reasonable doubt in his defense lawyer's assertions that the former Penn State assistant football coach was being victimized by an overzealous prosecution and greedy accusers.
It was a swift and emphatic end to a case that shattered Penn State University's Happy Valley image and brought down Hall of Fame football coach Joe Paterno.
In this booking photo released early Saturday morning June 23, 2012 by the Centre County Correctional Facility in Bellefonte, Pa., former Penn State University assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky is shown.
/ AP Photo/Centre County Correctional FacilityPenn State releases statement in reaction to Sandusky guilty verdict
Sandusky showed little emotion as the verdict was read. The judge ordered him to be taken to the county jail to await sentencing in about three months.
Sandusky, a 68-year-old retired defensive coach who was once Paterno's heir apparent, was found guilty of 45 of 48 counts. He faces the strong possibility of life in prison.
In court, Sandusky half-waved toward family as the sheriff led him away. Outside, he calmly walked to a sheriff's car with his hands cuffed in front of him.
As he was placed in the car, someone yelled at him to "rot in hell." Others hurled insults and he shook his head no in response.
Almost immediately after the judge adjourned, loud cheers could be heard from a crowd of more than 200 people gathered outside the courthouse as word quickly spread that Sandusky had been convicted. The group included victim advocates and local residents with their children. Many held up their smartphones to take pictures as people filtered out of the building.
Complete coverage of the Penn State scandal
Jurors were exposed to seven days testimony, some of it graphically describing abuse suffered at the hands of Sandusky, including touching in showers, fondling and in some cases forced oral or anal sex.
Watch CBS News' Armen Keteyian's report from the courtroom in Pennsylvania following the Sandusky verdict:
Eight young men testified that they were abused by the former Penn State assistant football coach, and jurors also heard about two other alleged victims through other witnesses, including another former coach.
Sandusky did not take the stand in his own defense.
Sandusky attorney Joe Amendola: "We had an uphill battle"
Penn. AG praises Sandusky victims' courage
He had repeatedly denied the allegations, and his defense suggested that his accusers had a financial motive to make up stories, years after the fact. His attorney also painted Sandusky as the victim of overzealous police investigators who coached the alleged victims into giving accusatory statements.
But jurors believed the testimony that, in the words of lead prosecutor Joseph McGettigan III, Sandusky was a "predatory pedophile."
One accuser testified that Sandusky molested him in the locker-room showers and in hotels while trying to ensure his silence with gifts and trips to bowl games. He also said Sandusky had sent him "creepy love letters."
Another spoke of forced oral sex and instances of rape in the basement of Sandusky's home, including abuse that left him bleeding. He said he once tried to scream for help, knowing that Sandusky's wife was upstairs, but figured the basement must be soundproof.
Another, a foster child, said Sandusky warned that he would never see his family again if he ever told anyone what happened.
And just hours after the case went to jurors, lawyers for one of Sandusky's six adopted children, Matt, said he had told authorities that his father abused him.
Matt Sandusky had been prepared to testify on behalf of prosecutors, the statement said. The lawyers said they arranged for Matt Sandusky to meet with law enforcement officials but did not explain why he didn't testify.
"This has been an extremely painful experience for Matt and he has asked us to convey his request that the media respect his privacy," the statement said. It didn't go into details about his allegations.
Defense witnesses, including Jerry Sandusky's wife, Dottie, described his philanthropic work with children over the years, and many spoke in positive terms about his reputation in the community. Prosecutors had portrayed those efforts as an effective means by which Sandusky could camouflage his molestation as he targeted boys who were the same age as participants in The Second Mile, a charity he founded in the 1970s for at-risk youth.
Sandusky's arrest in November led the Penn State trustees to fire Paterno as head coach, saying he exhibited a lack of leadership after fielding a report from then-graduate assistant Mike McQueary. The scandal also led to the ouster of university president Graham Spanier, and criminal charges against two university administrators for failing to properly report suspected child abuse and perjury.
The two administrators, athletic director Tim Curley and now-retired vice president Gary Schultz, are fighting the allegations and await trial.
Sandusky had initially faced 52 counts of sex abuse. The judge dropped four counts during the trial, saying two were unproven, one was brought under a statute that didn't apply and another was duplicative.
The accuser known in court papers as Victim 6 broke down in tears upon hearing the verdicts, and a prosecutor embraced him and said, "Did I ever lie to you?"The man, now 25, testified that Sandusky called himself the "tickle monster" in a shower assault. He declined to comment to a reporter afterward, but his mother said: "Nobody wins. We've all lost."
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When will the tide turn so that when women and children are hurt they are instantly believed and protected? I'm so glad the rapes of the women in the Military by their Drill Instructors and Senior Officers is finally being put out there for examination instead of covered up.
Does that mean boys as young as 14 could marry some 68 year old man?
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No! Chris, have you been visiting with Herbert?
This man is a homosexual, did he chose young girls, no as a homosexual he choose adolescents of the same sex.
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What does sexual preference have to do with pedophilia? The rape of any child, boy or girl, is a terrible act regardless of the rapist being heterosexual or homosexual.
Protective custody why? The children weren't protected from this "human" who should care about him.
Whoever wrote this article should stop with the Joe Paterno crap. Sandusky had been gone from the University for 10 years when Paterno first heard anything of it, and he reported it to U officials. He was not a first person witness. THERE IS NO REASON to taint Joe Paterno with what this monster has done, IMO, and I resent the implications in this article.
And I'm not related to Paterno, and I'm not a football fan: but I've been following this case... so if even I know better, then this journalist did a very poor job on this report IMO.
This is the EXACT type of man that the public identifies as a sex offender.
This is the EXACT type of man for whom every restriction is designed .
This is the EXACT type of man for whom all of the reporting and monitoring is designed.
This is the EXACT type of man that all of the SORNA supporters use to push these crazy laws.
YET, even though he is the poster child, and 'the proof that SORNA is necessary'...........
this man will NEVER spend one day subject to SORNA. He will spend life in prison and will never, not one time, have to register or abide by any of the conditions.
Yet every decent person on the registry will be given punishment because people do not believe he can ever be punished adequately for his crimes, so the punishment will spill over, and 700,000 registrants and their families will have to carry the brunt of his punishment.
I read where a pedophile "tests" how comfortable a child is with touch such as Sandusky placing his hand on a boy's leg. It reminded me of an instructor who taught driver's ed while I was in high school. We all had "heard" to be careful of him so on my first drive with him, he placed his hand at the bottom of the steering wheel right where it meets your legs. How in the world could he help control the car from that angle? Did I ever say anything to anyone? No. Was it just the way he taught? Was I interpreting his manner incorrectly? What I did do was move his hand. I think he did it a couple of times more and I told him it was not comfortable for me. Only then did he stop. This was 35 years ago. There are small steps toward completion of the grooming process and most likely, most of us had no idea what was going on.
At his age, I think it's most likely that he'd end up BEING molested by younger, stronger inmates.
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That would be sweet justice BUT he will be ok 'cause he will be in protective custody now until he dies.