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Pat Little / Reuters
Jerry Sandusky arrives Thursday at the Centre County Courthouse for the fourth day of his child sex abuse trial in Bellefonte, Pa..
ANALYSIS
While the prosecution didn't rest Thursday, it is very clear that the bulk of the commonwealth's evidence against Jerry Sandusky has been presented. Given the surprisingly fast pace of the prosecution's case, the judge canceled Friday's proceedings, leaving the jury with some disturbing testimony to consider over the Father's Day weekend.
Wes Oliver is a professor at Widener University who teaches criminal law and procedure. This fall he will join the faculty of the Duquesne University School of Law as a professor and director of the school's criminal justice program.This trial has been difficult to sit through at times. The acts alleged are horrific, and the testimony took an obvious emotional toll on the jury.
Despite the very strong case against Sandusky, the defense had strong moments on cross-examination. It has skillfully pointed out inconsistencies in the witnesses' testimony and has raised substantial questions about why some grown adults would continue to have friendly relationships with the man they now say abused them.
Nevertheless, the question remains: Why would so many witnesses come forward with similar stories? As Bob Costas stated it in the TV interview the jurors heard: If these witnesses are all lying, Sandusky must be the unluckiest guy any of us has ever known.
Jurors have long weekend to consider graphic evidence against Sandusky
Their stories weren't identical. In fact, had they been, one would suspect collusion. But there was a small detail that ran through all but one of the accounts: All but one alleged victim described Sandusky's first having touched him on the knee or the thigh as they rode in Sandusky's car.
If a group of people were going to concoct a group lie, one would expect them to coordinate the big details, not the small one. They were all, except one, in unison in describing this as Sandusky's first uncomfortable touch. In the case of one alleged victim, the prosecution didn't bring out this fact on direct examination — we learned this unifying fact on cross-examination.
Full coverage of the Jerry Sandusky trial
Almost any witness will be vulnerable to cross-examination that casts some doubt on his or her testimony, and Sandusky's alleged victims were no exception. But given the number of them, their consistency, the independent witnesses who saw Sandusky in the Penn State showers and the defendant's own words in the letters he wrote to one victim, the prosecution has presented a very strong case.
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Lock him up with the GP and throw the key away. *shrug*
Does anyone else find it interesting that he wrote a bio called "Touched?"
Thanks, I laughed and now I feel guilty.
If he is convicted there should be no bail while waiting for an appeal. Let him sit in prison which is where he should have been while awaiting trial. Maybe he'll get "touched" in prison.
Prison is too good for "Jer" if he is guilty. I hope those young men who were abused finally do get the justice they deserve. What a sick man, and those who covered for him are just as guilty even if they didn't lay a hand on those kids. Their silence condoned what he was doing and they are culpable.
"Jer" gets to pass the "PEN" everyday on his way to court. Rockview Penitentiary is between Bellefonte and State College. Soon "Jer" will only get a ride half-way and have a new home at the "PEN".
It will be interesting to see what the defense will now do to cast reasonable doubt. They will probably call long time friends of "Jer" to attest to the fact that they never saw him act inappropriately around children. We'll hear how kids shower with adults every day at the Y. We'll hear from Mrs. Sandusky...and possibly some of their adopted children. We'll hear about the troubled past of all of the victims. They will play on the fact that McQueary didn't take any action to separate Sandusky and the child he was raping. We'll hear about the janitor with dementia...did he have signs of dementia then? Let's not forget the alleged financial gain. (NO amount of money can erase what happened.)
I only hope that the jury maintains a semblance of logic and reason. The prosecution has layed out the classic pattern of a pedophile. Even if they find the credibility of a couple of victims questionable...they shouldn't lose track of the UGLY picture painted by a man who preyed on children.
I agree with you, Penn State Alum, employees, and family friends are primed and ready, I'm sure. They are also going to have him take the stand, which is highly unusual in cases like these. They will play the nice older man card, then he'll probably force some tears. However, I hope the prosecution has their cross-examination guns cocked and ready.
I just wish his sickening face wasn't spewed all over the articles. My creep alarm goes off every time I see his face. I hope the prosecution's strong case will stand among the defense process. These victims need justice.
Jer is going to get a really long and hard education on exactly what it felt like to his victims when he gets the same attention from his new prison buddies day after day after day!
He needs to be locked up with the dude from Canada (the one that killed, dismembered, had sex w the body, video put on internet), now there's some carnage. Accidentally leave some tools for him to work with. I think ol Jerry's pervert enough to enjoy some abuse same as he gave out, I hope he doesn't get acquitted, I'll have a stroke.
The Salem witch trials all over again.... Just a lot of hysterical testimony to a mob that clearly already believes in the guilt of the accused and absolutely no hard evidence.
There are witnesses, gary, eyewitnesses. Is that not hard evidence? Maybe you are likeminded? If I was a victim I'd probably have hysterical testimony also. You don't work with kids do you?
What would constitute "hard" evidence, Gary?! Photos? Videos? Jesus, we have testimony from victims willing to come forward and re-live these horrors. We have an eyewitness account of anal rape. We can only hope this sick bastard offs himself during the trial and this thing will be over.
@Gary,
Do you mean hard evidence like the love letters he wrote to two of them? Do you mean hard evidence like his short story about "Jer" and the little boy? Do you mean the hard evidence about the previous case that was not prosecuted where Sandusky admitted the pedophilia? Paterno, Spanier, Curley and Shultz all thought it was hard enough to ruin their careers and risk prison time to cover it up.
put him in the women's prison, there's nothing he wants there!! And make sure all the women on his cell block have sons!
Really? No hard evidence? All these young men are just lying? Who would want to do that? You obviously know nothing about child sexual abuse and pedophiles. This guy needs to be locked up FOREVER!
I, and many people I know, are absolutely mad as hell that this POS (Sandusky) has acted, for years (apparently/allegedly), in a manner that has ruined the reputation of Penn State, Joe Paterno, and the many fine student/athletes who played football for Penn State. I was talking with one of them the other night after a softball game, and we both agreed that Sandusky is lower than snake @!$%#, and, should he be convicted of these horrid crimes, deserves a very special place in whatever hells exist for those who molest and rape young children. Just speaking of it makes us want to vomit.
And, it seems as though Spanier, Schultz, and the others who knew about this after Paterno told them, failed utterly and miserably at the execution of their responsibilities. Where is the outrage that should be directed at them? The same outrage that was directed at Paterno, even though he HAD done the right thing? The whole thing disgusts me, especially the fact that several prosecutors, including our now-governor Corbett, refused to bring charges, or even refer them to a grand jury for examination. My disgust extends to them, also, especially Corbett, a supposed "enforce the laws" politician.
Bah, Fuc**ng adminstrators and politicians: Cut from the same rotten cloth......
I agree with everything you state above except...you can't let JoePa off the hook like that. He did the absolute minimum he could have. He ran that program, that school, that town. He should have made damn sure that Sandusky was gone...immediately!! He knew what happened in that shower and he continued to allow him on campus, have an office, for God's sake, and hang with the football program. Sorry, JoePa did NOT do the "right thing"....not by a long shot.
It wasn't Paterno's option to let, or not let, Sandusky on campus, it was the administration that allowed it. Sandusky was no longer an employee, and therefore, was not subject to any orders given by Paterno. While Paterno may have had "outsized" influence on some aspects of the university, I doubt very seriously that he "ran" the university, or the "town", for that matter.
Hindsight is almost always 20/20. It's easy to denigrate someone AFTER the entire situation becomes clear. I will admit that Paterno has SOME responsibiity, but I refuse to allow that he should have been fired for someone else's failings. Reprimanded, yes, but fired, NO! It is my beleif that he was fired by a board of directors that had been looking for an excuse to dismiss him for a while, and found that he was an easy scapegoat, in tis instance, for their failures.......
Even IF I have "outsized" his influence, do you honestly believe that if JoePa told the administration that he did not want Sandusky to have an office, did not want him near his program, that they would have refused his request. Not a chance.
@CP,
Paterno was still signing off on Sandusky having office space in the athletic department and being able to conduct overnight football camps using athletic facilities as late as 2010 --- eight years after the incident was reported to him.
More recently there are e-mails between Spanier, Curley and Schultz that indicate that Paterno was aware of Sandusky and was in on the coverup.
He still did the absolute minimum and then, in a very two-faced way, pretended that there was nothing wrong with Sandusky's contiunued entertainment of boys ovenight at football camps that he had to sign off on.
College football has many millions of dollars floating around. Too much money with too little supervision is a magnet for scandal. Every big time coach deals with scandals every day and spends more time sweeping these things under the rug or handling them quietly than he does actually coaching football. If Paterno didn't know, it would indicate that he had lost control of his team and I see no other evidence of that.
And why --- because at this point, it is very possible that the NCAA will give Penn State the "death penalty" over these incidents and the coverup ---- at the cost of over $100 million to Pennsylvania taxpayers.
Regarding Joe Paterno, if it would have been his children or grandchildren that were suspected victims, would he have handled it the same way? The answer to that question is the answer to whether he did enough. Please, get serious "constitutional patriot", time to let the idolatry go, he blew it big time!
Paterno should have called the police and let the authorities handle it. All who knew of it should have done that, from the onset, and maybe there wouldn't be so many victims.
Good thing I'm not on this jury...old "Jer" would go away for the rest of his sick life. Or maybe I should be on the jury.
Jerry Sandusky......perfect example of pond scum. Starts the Second Mile to help "at risk kids" with no father figure. Little did they know how "at risk" they were. What a insidious way to "troll" for young boys. The man has no heart or conscience. Inmates do not treat child abusers well in prison. Examples are Jeffery Dahmer and the pedophile catholic priest.........one killed in his cell, the other in the shower. Jerry's hell will begin here on earth. Penn. has the death penalty. Jerry will wish he had gotten it.
To all those conjuring up pictures of Jerry bent over a jail cell bunk getting his,.....that probably won't happen. He'll be so carefully segregated and monitored from the prison population. However, didn't they get to Dahlmer and to DeSalvo (the Boston Strangler).
After the trail, and the conviction of 'ole Jer, next to walk the plank will be the administrators that did not move to stop these actions. Following them may be the entire football program and perhaps even the university. In civil proceedings there will be NO limit to monetary damages a jury will award. My heart aches for the victims and I hope they show the same mercy to Penn State as Penn Stare demonstrated to them by not stopping this several years ago.
To the person who said there wasn't any hard evidence...you make me sick - that's exactly the kind of response those in authority had when these acts were 1st reported. If they had done something a bunch of other boys would have maybe escaped being molested. What other HARD evidence do you want besides the testimony of the victims? Most of these victims are young men now, probably with careers & families. Do you really think they would all go public to testify & relieve this nightmare if they were not telling the truth? And what would they have to gain from ALL of them making this up? Ridiculous to even suggest that there is no hard evidence. You should be ashamed of yourself.
a family member who molested boys but was never prosecuted (he was a roller skating teacher) regularly had his former victims drop in, typically with girlfriends or wives and sometimes kids in tow. The crime remained their unspoken secret, his nurturance to young men albeit twisted, made me think they were coming by to show him, "I did well" and maybe even "I'm not like you." Since the abuser always had the power in that relationship, the gifts including attention, and even the respect of the parents and community, the victims often couldn't recoil away with success. Lies of being ostracized if the truth were known, cementing silence because the abuser threatens to keep the child complicit if the authorities get involved, threatenting harm to the kids or their families - all are tactics that help maintain silence and allow further abuses to continue. Beleive me - no dollar amount can make up for the abuse.
Nurse Lisa your comment is one of the most interesting I've seen concerning this whole case, in it it seems almost as if you're describing a subculture that exists satisfies some other social purpose, model, function or whatever. Not condoning but that it just is there, kind of like the drug culture (and non-existent counter war on drugs that never materialzed), that drugs are sold massively and consumed by the US populace but it never seems to really be going on. Like the war. I think drug abuse has a lot to do with this stuff.
I meant like the other war, the military, "real" one. Oh yeah, just thought, also the giant geyser of porn that erupts daily out of US servers and communications lines. It's only indicative of our society, and of what others around the world see of us. Californication.
Yeah you know the whole thing has been so sensational and emotionally wrenching, and I actually wrote to Joe immediately after the onset in support of him. But only now when it is nearly, at least legally, over, do I remember what it was like for me to be an at risk-type child coming from a broken home and going to Penn State. I had a whole lot of psychological problems, my parents had (fortunately) just broken up two weeks before my going to PSU, my dad had ptsd/violence from WWII, I had a very severe car accident in which one of my best friends became a paraplegic over Christmas break my freshman year. I went to the Altoona campus first, 45 minutes south of University Park. We used to travel up to State College if we could. Gentle Thursday. Briarwood Bash. I went to Altoona's "Dr. Feelgood" school psychologist, who seemed most interested in being seen with good looking girls around campus, to ask for some help. He basically and literally told me that if I were really having that many problems "I would have probably dropped out by now". I made it to junior, transferring up to State College, and subsequently did drop out after that year. It really would have been nice to have had some real counseling back then.
Penn State is like a self-perpetuating machine, the entire town, the campus. Though wonderful also. I had forgotten till I saw that picture of the house out in that memorable and beautiful but at times desolate PA countryside. It's best for children of money and very strong social skills and fortitude. But most college experiences are like that: a warning to parents of future students, be careful who your children befriend, you have no idea who they are or what background they come from. I dropped out almost to the year that Sandusky started his organization. Probably best for me, as I moved home with my mom and attended Temple U for years by working in a factory in Pottstown (from 5 to 10 dollars an hour, after 10 years!); it took me 14 years from starting at PSU till I graduated BA at Temple. The first class I restarted at Temple my mom got cancer, and she died three years later, but I kept going, that time. But boy have I learned a lot over the years about the reality at the bottom for people in the US. Look up Potstown Landfill. Watch your children, watch the environment.