By MARK SCOLFORO and GENARO C. ARMAS
Associated Press
BELLEFONTE, Pa. — Jerry Sandusky was
convicted Friday of sexually assaulting 10 boys over 15 years, 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.
Sandusky,
a 68-year-old retired defensive coach who was once Paterno's heir
apparent, was found guilty of 45 of 48 counts and is almost certain to
spend the rest of his life in prison.
The jury of seven women and five men, including nine with ties to Penn State, deliberated more than 20 hours over two days.
Sandusky
showed little emotion as the verdict was read. Judge John Cleland
revoked his bail and ordered him taken to the county jail to await
sentencing in about three months.
Sandusky half-waved toward his
family in the courtroom as the sheriff led him away. Outside, he calmly
walked to a sheriff's car with his hands cuffed in front of him.
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."
Almost immediately after the judge adjourned the case, loud
cheers could be heard from a couple hundred people gathered outside the
courthouse as word quickly spread that Sandusky had been convicted. The
crowd included victim's advocates and local residents with their
children.
As Sandusky was placed in the cruiser to be taken to
jail, someone yelled at him to "rot in hell." Others hurled insults and
he shook his head no in response.
Lead defense attorney Joe
Amendola was interrupted by cheers from the crowd on courthouse steps
when he said, "The sentence that Jerry will receive will be a life
sentence."
Eight young men testified in a central Pennsylvania
courtroom about a range of abuse, from kissing and massages to groping,
oral sex and anal rape. For two other alleged victims, prosecutors
relied on testimony from a university janitor and then-graduate
assistant Mike McQueary, whose account of a sexual encounter between
Sandusky and a boy of about 10 ultimately led to Paterno's firing and
the university president's ouster.
Sandusky did not take the stand in his own defense, which Amendola said was a last-minute strategy change.
Defense
attorney Karl Rominger said it was "a tough case" with a lot of charges
and that an appeal was certain. He said the defense team "didn't
exactly have a lot of time to prepare."
Amendola praised the
prosecution, the judge and the jury and added: "Jerry indicated he was
disappointed with the verdict, but obviously he has to live with it." He
said he would appeal.
Pennsylvania Attorney General Linda Kelly thanked the accusers who testified, calling them "brave men."
She said she hoped the verdict "helps these victims heal ... and helps other victims of abuse to come forward."
"One
of the recurring themes in this case was: Who would believe a kid?" she
said. "The answer is: We here in Bellefonte, Pa., would believe a kid."
Sandusky
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.
Amendola said Sandusky
reluctantly agreed not to testify in his own behalf because the son
would have been called by the prosecution as a rebuttal witness and the
defense feared that would destroy any chance of acquittal.
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 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.
The
family of Paterno, who died exactly five months before Sandusky's
conviction, released a statement saying: "Although we understand the
task of healing is just beginning, today's verdict is an important
milestone. The community owes a measure of gratitude to the jurors for
their diligent service. Our thoughts and prayers continue to be with the
victims and their families."
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.
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.
