Friday, June 22, 2012

Jury reaches verdict in Sandusky sex-abuse trial

NBC News

A crowd gathered late Friday outside the Centre County Courthouse in Bellefonte, Pa., as news of a possible verdict spread.

By Kimberly Kaplan, NBC News, and M. Alex Johnson, msnbc.com

Updated at 9:48 p.m. ET: BELLEFONTE, Pa. — A verdict has been reached in the child sexual abuse trial of former Penn State University assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky, court officials said Friday night.

It could be quite some time before the verdict is actually known, however. Under rules set down by the judge, no one may enter or leave the courtroom or send any communications until all 48 counts have been dispensed with, the jury has been dismissed and court has adjourned.

Kimberly Kaplan of NBC News reported from Bellefonte, Pa. M. Alex Johnson is a reporter for msnbc.com. Follow M. Alex Johnson on Twitter and Facebook.

Sandusky, 68, the former longtime defensive coordinator at Penn State, denies all 48 counts alleging that he abused 10 boys over 15 years. Two grand jury reports accused him of having used his connection to one of the nation's premier college football programs to "groom" the boys, whom he met through his Second Mile charity for troubled children, for sexual relationships.

Several of the counts are so-called mandated felonies, meaning McKean County (Pa.) Senior Judge John Cleland would have no discretion in sentencing. Most carry sentences of 10 to 20 years in prison, meaning that even if he is convicted on only a handful of those counts, Sandusky could spend the rest of his life in prison.

Cleland was brought to Centre County to oversee the trial after local judges recused themselves.

The trial, which opened June 11, culminated months of intense attention that led to the firing of head coach Joe Paterno, who won more games than any other major college football coach in history, many of them with Sandusky at his side.

Paterno died in January, a few weeks after the Penn State Board of Trustees dismissed him for not having done enough to stop Sandusky's alleged abuse.

Full coverage of the Jerry Sandusky trial

Ghosts of Sandusky's dreams haunt home where charity was born

Legal analysis by Wes Oliver

Jurors heard often-graphic testimony from eight of the 10 alleged victims whose accounts were included in two grand jury reports. They told how Sandusky would first win their trust by giving them gifts and taking them on trips with the football team before progressing to hugging, kissing, increasingly sexual touching and, in some cases, oral and anal sex.

In a rare occurrence in an abuse trial, prosecutors also presented the testimony of a corroborating eyewitness — Sandusky's former Penn State coaching colleague Michael McQueary, who said that he saw a young boy, identified in the first grand jury report as "Victim 2," in a Penn State shower with Sandusky.

McQueary said the boy had his hands against the wall and that Sandusky was standing up against him from behind. He said he heard a "skin-on-skin smacking sound" and that he had "no doubt" that Sandusky was engaging in anal sex with the boy.

Because they were sequestered, without access to computers, phones or any other way to hear news coverage, the jury of seven women and five men wouldn't have heard newer, potentially damaging information from two other accusers that emerged after they began deliberations.

Sandusky's adopted son Matt said he had been prepared to testify that he, too, was a victim of abuse by his father, according to a statement issued Thursday by attorneys who said they are representing the younger Sandusky.

(NBC News and msnbc.com generally do not identify victims of sexual assaults, but Matt Sandusky chose to identify himself in a public statement released through his attorneys.)

Sources told NBC News that Jerry Sandusky abandoned plans to testify in his own defense because of the prospect of damaging rebuttal testimony by his son.

Nor would they have heard the account of Travis Weaver, 30, of Ohio, who attended Second Mile camps as a youth. Weaver told NBC News in an interview that aired Thursday night that Sandusky performed oral sex on him in the upstairs bedroom of the Sanduskys' home.

Weaver testified to one of the two grand juries but wasn't mentioned in the grand jury reports or called as a witness during the trial.

The end of the trial doesn't mean the case is over.

Two former top Penn State officials, former Athletic Director Timothy Curley and former vice president Gary Schultz, face perjury charges in connection with their grand jury testimony in December, in which prosecutors alleged that concealed what they knew about Sandusky's conduct.

Law enforcement sources have told NBC News that former Penn State President Graham Spanier, who was fired in November, was under investigation for possible similar charges.

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