Juror: Sandusky appeared to accept his fate

Jerry Sandusky leaves the Centre County Courthouse in Bellefonte after being convicted of multiple counts of sexual abuse on Friday, June 22, 2012. / AP/Centre Daily Times, Nabil K. Mark

(CBS/AP) BELLEFONTE, Pa. - Jerry Sandusky's lack of emotion as the guilty verdicts were read at his child sex abuse trial confirmed the verdicts were the right ones, one juror said Saturday.

Sandusky appeared to be accepting his fate "because he knew it was true," Joshua Harper told NBC's "Today."

Friday's verdicts brought to an end a shocking scandal that upended the reputation of one of the most prominent sports programs in the U.S., one that had prided itself on integrity and "Success with Honor" amid ethics problems at other schools.

Sandusky, a former Penn State assistant football coach, was convicted on 45 of 48 child sex abuse counts involving 10 boys over a 15-year period. The 68-year-old faces life in prison at his sentencing, which is weeks away.

Eight young men, some in tears, testified in sometimes graphic terms about a range of abuse, from kissing and massages to groping, oral sex and anal rape. Prosecutors portrayed Sandusky as a man who used the football team's reputation and the charity he founded for at-risk youth to find and groom his victims.

"It's hard to judge character on the stand because you don't know these kids," Harper said. "But most were very credible - I would say all."

"It was very convincing," he added.

Sandusky did not take the stand in his own defense. He half-waved at his family while being led away in handcuffs.

Someone in the crowd outside the courthouse yelled at him to "rot in hell." Others hurled insults.

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The Penn State program had had a reputation of avoiding the usual pitfalls of American college sports, including payoffs to athletes or academic cheating.

When the Sandusky case emerged last year, the school and the community suddenly had to face the possibility that school officials, including legendary head football coach Joe Paterno, had covered up reports of child sex abuse. Paterno was swiftly fired after the news emerged that a graduate assistant had told him in 2002 about seeing Sandusky sodomizing a boy in the football team's showers.

Sandusky repeatedly denied the growing allegations, and his defense suggested at trial that his accusers had a financial motive to make up stories.

Pennsylvania Attorney General Linda Kelly thanked the accusers who testified, saying she hoped the verdict "helps these victims heal ... and helps other victims of abuse to come forward."

The accuser known in court papers as Victim 6 broke down in tears upon hearing the verdicts. Afterward, a prosecutor embraced him and said, "Did I ever lie to you?"

The man, now 25, declined to comment to a reporter afterward.

"Nobody wins. We've all lost," his mother said.

Paterno family: Verdict "important milestone"
Penn. AG praises Sandusky victims' courage
Sandusky attorney Joe Amendola: "We had an uphill battle"

One accuser testified that Sandusky molested him in the locker-room showers and in hotels while trying to ensure his silence with gifts. Another spoke of forced oral sex and rape in the basement of Sandusky's home. He said he once tried to scream for help, knowing that Sandusky's wife was upstairs, but assumed 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 and had been prepared to testify.

In a statement, Penn State praised the accusers who testified and said that it planned to invite the victims of Sandusky's abuse to participate in a private program to address their concerns and compensate them for claims related to the school.

[MichaelinAtlanta]

Kudos to the jury and prosecutors for doing the right thing in this trial! Sandusky may have been wealthy & powerful, but far from the top of the pecking order. Research "Franklin Scandal & Cover-up" and then tell me once again how justice is blind. I believe Second Mile was nothing less than a mill for child prostitution. My dowsing rod points all the way up to Governor Tom Corbett and even higher. People with power do not turn away from such heinous acts unless they have chips on the table. Is Sandusky guilty? Hell yes! Is he the fall guy? Hell yes! Others need to fall, also. I hope the state of Pennsylvania does not rest gloating in this one victory.

If you think money & prestige doesn't carry a huge stick to a fist fight, look no further than OJ, Menendez brothers, Billionaire Boys Club member Joe Hunt, Phil Spector, Robert Blake, Leopold & Loeb, Michael Skakel, T. Cullen Davis...

Then look up Troy Davis, Todd Willingham, Gary Graham, Claude Jones, Leo Jones, David Spence, Joseph O'Dell, Larry Griffin, Ruben Cantu, etc. All of these men were poor or working class, all were found guilty, all have been all but proven innocent, and all are dead from execution. And note that Texas, though not alone, passes out death sentences like candy on Halloween.

After you do your research, will you please read to me that bed-time story again? You know...the one where everybody lives happily ever.

[knewsteerrrrr]

Sandusky appeared to accept his fate"

Yeah I bet, pretty hard to appeal and overturn 48 counts of guilt!

[Lerianis4]

The testimony was 'very convincing' when some of them waited 20 YEARS to complain about it?

******* hardly! The bottom line is that it sounds like most of these 'victims' were having consensual sexual encounters with Sandusky. Yeah, you might not believe that those things exist, but I do.... in fact, I know they do from having sex with adults as a child and liking it.

These people reek of money grubbing and 'out for revenge' for things in life that their 'abuse' had nothing to do with and Sandusky had nothing to do with.

[1pheasant1]

Adults cannot have sex with children, "consentual" or not. What part of that do you not understand?

[jwilsonte5]

Lerianis4 you sound like a perv. defending another LOL!!!

[andie52]

Sandusky's wife, Dottie Sandusky, has obtained her own legal counsel; it is unclear how she will be affected by the potential lawsuits.

Sandusky will be held at the county jail for approximately 90 days, until he is sentenced by Cleland to what will likely amount to life in prison.

After that, he will likely spend the rest of his days in a state prison in Pennsylvania, living among the general population of 18- to 79-year olds until he ages out of the system and is transferred to a facility for older prisoners. He will be forced to undergo treatment for sex offenders while in prison

couldn't have happened to a nicer couple LOL

[1pheasant1]

Penn State appears to reject her fate.

[hbullis]

"Penn State is offering counseling and compensation. They're just trying to ward off the pending civil lawsuits".

rickiu, my exact impression when I first read it too.

[Ericwvb]

"He said he once tried to scream for help, knowing that Sandusky's wife was upstairs, but assumed the basement must be soundproof." -- Or, she was pretty used to screams coming from the basement and ignored them.

[Lerianis4]

Or he is a lying SOB. Yes, people will and DO lie about being sexually assaulted in order to get sympathy and cash.

[melpol12]

Money buys sex out of and in prison. Sandusky will be sodomizing dozens of young inmates who are invited to his cell including the guys assigned to the suicide watch. He will never commit suicide.

[the_egret]

Hope he's rear-ended by Bubba. Often. For years.

[wattermelann]

yes, he is guilty. now is sandusky a victim of molestation and rape as a child himself?

[Jaylah54100]

How would that change anything? Are you saying that he should be excused for raping who-only-knows how many children?

I was the victim of daily physical abuse as a child growing up. But I also understood how painful that was, and that wrong is wrong. As a result, I never hit my children. Never even considered it an option.