BREAKING NEWS – Jerry Sandusky Found Guilty on 45 of 48 Sex Abuse Counts
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Mark Wilson/Getty Images(BELLEFONTE, Pa.) — Former Penn State football coach Jerry Sandusky was found guilty today of nearly all of the allegations of child sex abuse leveled against him.
He will likely be sentenced to life in prison.
After 20 hours of sequestered deliberations, the jury of seven women and five men read dozens of “guilty” verdicts as Sandusky stood and looked at the jury with a hand in a pocket of his brown jacket.
Sandusky was found guilty on 45 of the 48 counts against him of sex abuse involving 10 boys he allegedly groomed through a charity he operated. He was led out of court by officers.
Sandusky and his lawyers, along with prosecutors, were summoned to court to hear the verdict. Assembled spectators shouted jeers such as “pervert” as Sandusky and his wife, Dottie, walked into the courthouse lit up by flash bursts.
The two-week trial was remarkable for the graphic tales of abuse that ranged from Sandusky playing tickle monster in the shower to aggressive sex including oral and anal sex on boys as young as 8. At one point, jurors were brought to tears by the testimony of the alleged victims who are now grown men.
The defense scored some points back during week two of the trial by putting Sandusky’s wife on the stand and hearing her testify that she never saw anything inappropriate between her husband and children and knew some of the accusers to have behavioral issues. They also poked holes in the stories of two lead investigators on the case by showing that the men told potential victims that others had already come forward claiming Sandusky raped them.
During 30 hours of testimony over two weeks, the jury heard from eight accusers, one eyewitness, a string of character witnesses testifying to Sandusky’s character, and members of the police who investigated the case.
Two people the jury did not hear from include Sandusky himself, who waived his right to testify, and Sandusky’s adopted son Matt. Matt Sandusky was one of his father’s most ardent supporters following Sandusky’s November arrest, but contacted prosecutors at the end of last week saying he was, in fact, a victim of his father’s abuse and would be willing to testify, sources told ABC News. The prosecution did not put him on the stand, and the revelations about Matt Sandusky’s willingness to testify are not known by the jury and will not factor into deliberations.
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