Opening Statements to Begin in Jerry Sandusky's Trial - East Idaho News
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Opening Statements to Begin in Jerry Sandusky’s Trial

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Getty 060512 JerrySandusky?  SQUARESPACE CACHEVERSION=1339410260877Patrick Smith/Getty Images(BELLEFONTE, Pa.) — Opening statements are set to begin Monday in the child sex abuse trial of former Penn State assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky.  The 68-year-old is charged with 52 counts of sexual abuse against 10 boys over a 15-year span.

Eight of the alleged victims are prepared to testify in the Bellefonte, Pa., courtroom, including a now 28-year-old man identified as “Victim 4” who is expected to be the first witness to take the stand.

His attorney, Ben Andreozzi, says his client has a very strong case.

“I honestly believe that the prosecution could put victim number four on the stand, rest the case and be done and Sandusky would be in jail for the rest of his life,” says Andreozzi.

As former Pennsylvania prosecutor Kathleen Kane points out, quantity makes this case different from many other sex abuse cases and it’s Sandusky’s biggest problem.

“The volume of witnesses and their testimony taken as a whole and in repetition shows that Jerry Sandusky touched them in a sexual manner with the intent of it being sexual and it was not just an accident or a mistake,” she says.

Love letters that Sandusky supposedly sent to the boys will be also offered as corroborating evidence.

But it will hardly be an open and shut case.

Sandusky’s defense team is expected to attack the believability of each accuser and question the delay between the alleged molestation and when it was reported.  They say the alleged victims are lying and may have colluded to bring down a respected advocate for children.

Copyright 2012 ABC News Radio

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