Jury finds Jerry Sandusky guilty on dozens of child sex abuse charges

[Vinylic.]

Video and Source: http://www.cnn.com/2012/06/22/justice/pennsylvania-sandusky-trial/index.html

Bellefonte, Pennsylvania (CNN) -- Former Penn State assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky was found guilty Friday on 45 of 48 counts related to sexual abuse of boys over a 15-year period.

Jurors delivered the verdict around 10 p.m. after deliberating for about 21 hours. There were convictions related to all 10 sexual abuse victims, with the three not-guilty verdicts applying to three
different individuals.

Sandusky stood slightly hunched, looking down with his hand in his pocket but showing no visible emotion as the guilty verdicts were read out in court. His wife, Dottie, blinked back tears.

Judge John Cleland revoked Sandusky's bail and ordered his arrest. Video showed him leaving the courthouse in handcuffs and heading into an awaiting police car destined for the Centre County jail. He didn't say anything as reporters asked "if he had anything to say to the victims."

"We knew whatever the jury's verdict was we would honor it," said Karl Rominger, one of the defense lawyers. "Jerry rose. I saw tears in his eyes."

Back inside the courtroom, the young man identified as court documents as Victim 6 was in tears as he hugged prosecutors.

Sandusky should be sentenced in about 90 days, the judge said.

His case gripped the nation and led to the dismissal of a legendary coach and one of America's highest-paid university presidents, while his trial included gripping and at times graphic testimony from his victims.

During closing arguments, prosecutors described the ex-Nittany Lions defensive coordinator as a pedophile who preyed on victims using a charity he founded for troubled children, repeatedly abusing young boys in his care.

His defense sought to poke holes in the prosecution's case throughout the trial, such as pointing to inconsistencies in the testimony of Mike McQueary, a former graduate assistant who testified that he witnessed Sandusky apparently sodomizing a boy in a university shower.

Defense attorney Joe Amendola reminded jurors of the lack of physical evidence in the case, accusing the alleged victims of conspiring for financial gain, while also blaming the media for what he described as biased coverage.

Lead prosecutor Joseph McGettigan rebuffed those arguments, telling jurors that "the commonwealth has overwhelming evidence against Mr. Sandusky."

In a bombshell announcement Thursday evening, Matt Sandusky -- one of Jerry Sandusky's six adopted children -- said through his attorney that he was sexually abused by the former Penn State assistant football coach, adding that he had been prepared to testify against him.

Legal analysts say the accusation could bring additional charges, including incest charges, against the former coach.

The broader scandal led to the November firing of iconic head football coach Joe Paterno, the dismissal of university president Graham Spanier and brought charges against vice president Gary Schultz and former Athletic Director Tim Curley for perjury and failing to report the abuse.

During grand jury testimony, Paterno said that he was told by a graduate assistant that Sandusky was in the showers "fondling or doing something of a sexual nature to a young boy."

The Nittany Lions' head coach, who died on January 22 after a career that had him widely credited with bringing the program to national prominence, reported the incident to his superiors but did not inform police, the school's board of trustees said in a report that explained Paterno's firing.

"We determined that his decision to do his minimum legal duty and not to do more to follow up constituted a failure of leadership by Coach Paterno," the trustees said.

That decision prompted rioting from Penn State university students, overturning a news van and clashing with police, who used tear gas break up the crowds.
After a week of testimony, during which time witnesses graphically described sexual encounters with Sandusky that they said occurred durijng their boyhoods, jurors made their decision without ever having heard from Sandusky on the witness stand.

If the former coach had testified, prosecutors could have potentially submitted as new evidence a November television interview he had with NBC sportscaster Bob Costas.

In a portion of the interview that was not part of the original broadcast, Sandusky told Costas that he "didn't go around seeking out every young person for sexual needs that I've helped."

On Tuesday, the prosecution called its only rebuttal witness to counter testimony that raised questions about the former coach's mental health.

Dr. Elliot Atkins earlier had testified that he diagnosed Sandusky with histrionic personality disorder, part of a class of conditions called dramatic personality disorders, which are marked by unstable emotions and distorted self-images. But a second psychologist, prosecution witness Dr. John O'Brien, disputed those findings, saying that the "personality profile Mr. Sandusky exhibited was within normal limits."

A day later, the defense called Dr. Jonathan Dranov, an acquaintance of McQueary's, who said the former graduate assistant told him he heard "sexual sounds" and saw the boy in the shower when an arm reached around him. Sandusky then emerged from the shower area, he quoted McQueary as saying. But McQueary said he did not actually witness a sexual encounter, Dranov said of their conversation.

That account differs from what the former graduate assistant testified he saw.
McQueary said he witnessed Sandusky pressed up against the boy in the shower and that it seemed obvious the former coach had been sodomizing the child.
On Tuesday, Sandusky's wife told jurors that she could remember at least six of her husband's accusers staying overnight at their house, but that she never witnessed sexual abuse.

Eight young men testified, often in disturbingly graphic detail, of how Sandusky forced them to engage in sexual acts in various places, including showers in the Penn State coaches' locker room, hotel rooms and the basement of his home.

One told jurors that Sandusky -- whom he met, like many of the accusers, through The Second Mile foundation that the ex-coach founded -- had threatened him if he told others about the abuse. Another said Sandusky warned him that he might send him home from a trip to Texas, where they'd gone to watch a Penn State bowl game.

The defense challenged the accusers' timetable, questioned the various allegations and called multiple character witness to defend Sandusky's stellar reputation in the community.

Any thoughts and comments for the conclusion?

 

[Claire Diviner]

That is crazy, to say the least. I am a bit disturbed by the lack of physical evidence, inconsistencies in the accusers' stories, and worse still, jurors coming to a verdict without having even let Sandusky testify.

In cases like this - assuming Sandusky was actually innocent - it's very difficult to successfully defend yourself, seeing as sexual abuse cases, especially when they involve minors, tend to be glorified "witch trials" so to speak (unless you're as famous as Micheal Jackson, I guess). If he did, however, abuse these victims as they say he did, then yes, he deserves to be locked up. Regardless, the jury made their decision, and there really isn't much that can be done now.

 

[theeboredone]

I wonder if they are gonna go after those that knew or had a sharp idea of what was going on, but refused to do anything about it. I know they lost their jobs due to lack of moral responsibility, but if they outright knew...then they should be punished.

 

[Kal]

This reminds me of a study done after the daycare sex abuse hysteria.

Children are vulnerable to outside influences that lead to fabrication of testimony. Their testimony can be influenced in a variety of ways. Maggie Bruck in her article published by the American Psychological Association wrote that children incorporate aspects of the interviewer's questions into their answers in an attempt to tell the interviewer what the child believes is being sought. Studies also show that when adults ask children questions that do not make sense (such as "is milk bigger than water?" or "is red heavier than yellow?"), most children will offer an answer, believing that there is an answer to be given, rather than understand the absurdity of the question. Furthermore, repeated questioning of children causes them to change their answers. This is because the children perceive the repeated questioning as a sign that they did not give the "correct" answer previously. Children are also especially susceptible to leading and suggestive questions.

Source

 

[Froggy]

I have a hardtime believing that one man could sodomize so many children. It's one thing to be dumb and depraved enough to do it, but that really no one reports it until so many years later?

I'd bet he at least sodomized some of the children, but like other people stated it's likely that some of the testimony from the children have been coerced.

 

[rinisan]

I believe he is not the only one.

 

[Peeze]

How many years do you get for 45 counts of ****?

 

[Vinylic.]

Idk the number of years, but I know that he could be in jail for the rest of his life.

His penalty is yet To Be Discussed.

 

[Peeze]

oh yeah no its for sure where he'll die. But i wonder if they'll give him some astronomical number like 1400 years or so.

 

[Claire Diviner]

Let's just say he may very well never get out of prison.

 

[theeboredone]

I hate to say this, but normally I don't judge a book by its cover. However, when the story first broke out last year, I just took one look at his face and just felt like something was off about him. He just looks like someone that would have a terrible dirty secret in the closet.

 

[Vinylic.]

Judging a book by its cover and having an odd feel about him is not the same.

 

[theeboredone]

In this case it is. The guy just looks like a creeper, which you cannot say about many people in the public eye.

I had an odd feeling about him, because he looked like a creeper. Hence, I was judging the book by its cover.

 

[Vinylic.]

Makes sense.

 

[Evil Eye]

In cases like this - assuming Sandusky was actually innocent - it's very difficult to successfully defend yourself, seeing as sexual abuse cases, especially when they involve minors, tend to be glorified "witch trials" so to speak

That strikes me as very naive. Why is "assuming Sandusky was actually innocent" the first thing that comes to mind? I find that disturbing. The efforts by Paterno and others to sweep the whole thing under the rug are there clear as the blue sky and a much more plausible explanation for inconsistencies that came about during investigations than anything else. The attempts to stonewall any movement of looking into this by Penn State and Paterno are there for anyone to see, and if you ask me the fact that they didn't even want it to be looked into makes the facts of the case tremendously obvious.

I just don't understand this abuser pitying on your part. If what you're saying is that people make a habit of going through the personal debasing and humiliation of claiming to have been ***** just because someone has already been accused of ****** others, that's just preposterous. There are of course cases of sensationalized or false charges, but to treat them as though they were something so common that they need to be brought up and considered at every verdict is just disgusting.

If you're talking about all the hatred and venom they take on... so the **** what? Child molestation is one of the most horrifying crimes that a human being can commit. The selfish, premeditated, disgusting and generally appalling nature of it is inarguable. Children are damaged for life for the sake of someone getting their rocks off. It's even worse in the case of people like Sandusky, who create charities and networks of people specifically to give themselves access to more victims.

I have a hardtime believing that one man could sodomize so many children. It's one thing to be dumb and depraved enough to do it, but that really no one reports it until so many years later?

Now this I can definitely say is naive. Abusers like Sandusky often employ paralyzing fear tactics and threats to coerce children/victims into remaining silent. There's also the simple but unfortunate fact that sports coaches have a network of people who are willing to fall on a knife for them and generally look the other way on a pithy things such as child molestation to protect their blessed skills as a coach. As was glaringly apparent in Sandusky's case. It is a repugnant but very real crack in what we try to think of as "civilized society".

Graham James, convicted child molester.

Graham James molested many kids, notably Theoren Fleury and Sheldon Kennedy, hundreds of times over the course of years. No one seemed to know anything about it, as he would use their hopes and dreams of making it in hockey to blackmail and terrorize them into silence. If anybody did know about it, they were definitely turning a blind eye.

Oh, and James was only sentenced to two years in the end, so I'd have to disagree with the witch trial comment again. I'd say society is too lenient on crimes such as these. However, James was sentenced in Canada -- hopefully the United States can get it right.

 

[Lore]

Dat criminology.

I hope this guy gets as much of a sentence as possible. Child molestation is sick, disgusting, and easily my most hated crime. It ****s people up for life, so Mr Sandusky should get ****ed up for life too.

 

[Luigitoilet]

Linking this case to scandals like the McMartin Preschool Trial and actual media witch hunts is very disingenuous. The Sandusky grand jury report is full of, you know, actual evidence. If you have a strong stomach, I suggest you read the whole thing.

Also worth noting is that in this case, all of Sandusky's alleged victims must testify under their own real names. I don't really feel like many people are going to come out and testify about something like this if it didn't actually happen to them. Would you want to falsely testify against a child rapist if it meant that you were now to be painted as a sexual abuse victim?

Also, the ex-president of the PSU is ****ed. I honestly wish PAterno was alive so he could have rotted in prison with the rest of them.

http://www.pennlive.com/midstate/index.ssf/2012/06/jerry_sandusky_graham_spanier.html

"Internal e-mails and documents they say show former President Graham Spanier and others discussed whether they needed to tell authorities about a 2001 allegation involving a late-night encounter between a naked Sandusky and a young boy in the Penn State shower room. The sources say documents show Penn State even did legal research on the issue. But in one e-mail exchange, two sources say, Spanier and former vice president Gary Schultz agreed it would be 'humane' to Sandusky not to inform social services and the incident never got reported."

In this case it is. The guy just looks like a creeper, which you cannot say about many people in the public eye.

I had an odd feeling about him, because he looked like a creeper. Hence, I was judging the book by its cover.

dude i know

waht the hell is wrong with his thumb

 

[Claire Diviner]

That strikes me as very naive. Why is "assuming Sandusky was actually innocent" the first thing that comes to mind? I find that disturbing. The efforts by Paterno and others to sweep the whole thing under the rug are there clear as the blue sky and a much more plausible explanation for inconsistencies that came about during investigations than anything else. The attempts to stonewall any movement of looking into this by Penn State and Paterno are there for anyone to see, and if you ask me the fact that they didn't even want it to be looked into makes the facts of the case tremendously obvious.

I just don't understand this abuser pitying on your part. If what you're saying is that people make a habit of going through the personal debasing and humiliation of claiming to have been ***** just because someone has already been accused of ****** others, that's just preposterous. There are of course cases of sensationalized or false charges, but to treat them as though they were something so common that they need to be brought up and considered at every verdict is just disgusting.

Don't misunderstand me, Evil Eye, I don't pity or sympathize with the man. I recently read more into the case, and it is evident that he did abuse the kids, and for that, they can do what they will with him. As for the falsifying cases being common, one would be surprised how often they do spring up, we just don't hear about them. Are they as common as you think I imply them to be? No, but they do happen.

If you're talking about all the hatred and venom they take on... so the **** what? Child molestation is one of the most horrifying crimes that a human being can commit. The selfish, premeditated, disgusting and generally appalling nature of it is inarguable. Children are damaged for life for the sake of someone getting their rocks off. It's even worse in the case of people like Sandusky, who create charities and networks of people specifically to give themselves access to more victims.

Of course I'm not speaking about that. Child abusers of any kind - let alone sexual abusers - deserve all the hatred they receive. I made no mention nor did I imply that they should be understood or "belly-rubbed".

Oh, and James was only sentenced to two years in the end, so I'd have to disagree with the witch trial comment again. I'd say society is too lenient on crimes such as these. However, James was sentenced in Canada -- hopefully the United States can get it right.

Penalties in the U.S. are more severe than in Canada. Actually, I believe the U.S. has the most severe sentences out of any country in the world regarding these cases, but that's merely a guess, so suffice it to say Sandusky will not be out of prison anytime soon. Even if they gave him a short sentence, he may as well be as good as dead what with how they're literally target practice for any inmate that isn't a sexual predator. He's going to suffer regardless.

Child molestation is sick, disgusting, and easily my most hated crime. It ****s people up for life

Yeah, I would know...

 

[rinisan]

Linking this case to scandals like the McMartin Preschool Trial and actual media witch hunts is very disingenuous. The Sandusky grand jury report is full of, you know, actual evidence. If you have a strong stomach, I suggest you read the whole thing.

Also worth noting is that in this case, all of Sandusky's alleged victims must testify under their own real names. I don't really feel like many people are going to come out and testify about something like this if it didn't actually happen to them. Would you want to falsely testify against a child rapist if it meant that you were now to be painted as a sexual abuse victim?

Also, the ex-president of the PSU is ****ed. I honestly wish PAterno was alive so he could have rotted in prison with the rest of them.

http://www.pennlive.com/midstate/index.ssf/2012/06/jerry_sandusky_graham_spanier.html





dude i know

waht the hell is wrong with his thumb

As tasty as young boys are, hell he looks like a down to earth pervert.

 

[theeboredone]

Just an update to this case, former FBI director Louis Freeh has released a 267 page report, and it pretty much puts a ton of blame on the higher ups of PSU, including guys like Joe Paterno.

http://espn.go.com/college-football...senior-officials-disregarded-children-welfare

The report itself can be read here.

http://assets.espn.go.com/pdf/2012/0712/psupressrelease.pdf