As the court process surrounding Jerry Sandusky begins to unfold, two sides will often present the case's public face.

On one side is the state Office of Attorney General, led by Attorney General Linda Kelly, whose operation is handling the criminal sex-abuse investigation into the former Penn State assistant football coach.

And on the other side is Joseph Amendola, the longtime and well-established State College lawyer who is defending Sandusky.

With both sides gaining substantial public spotlights, here's a look at each:

Linda Kelly
Kelly serves as Pennsylvania attorney general, the position now-Gov. Tom Corbett held before being elected in 2010.
 
According to a report in the Harrisburg Patriot-News, colleagues of Kelly said a long-established friendship between her and Corbett did not hurt the chances of her becoming the state’s top law enforcement officer.
 
Now, she’s at the forefront of the Sandusky case, perhaps the most high-profile case the state has ever seen and one that is climbing the ranks in terms of national recognition as well.
 
Kelly was sworn in as state attorney general on May 27, after Corbett nominated her to succeed him last February. She was unanimously confirmed by the Senate and will serve through January 2013. In keeping with tradition for midterm appointees to the state row offices, Kelly won’t seek election to a full four-year term next year.
 
The Patriot-News, citing Pennsylvania Department of State records, reported Kelly contributed more than $10,000 combined to Corbett’s statewide campaigns in 2004, 2008 and 2010.
 
According to her biography on the attorney general’s website, Kelly served as anti-terrorism coordinator for the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Pittsburgh following the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. She also served as a liaison to federal, state and local law-enforcement agencies in the district.
 
By 1980, Kelly started working with the U.S. Attorney’s office and quickly moved up the ranks. She is the first woman to lead the Office of Attorney General since it became an independent elected office in 1981, and she is only the second woman ever to serve as state attorney general. 
 
According to the bio, Kelly has been a prosecutor for more than 30 years, serving as both an assistant district attorney in Allegheny County and most recently as senior litigation counsel as Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Pennsylvania.
 
Kelly, a married mother of one daughter, graduated from the University of Pittsburgh and Duquesne Law School and started in the Allegheny County district attorney’s office in 1975, around the same time as Corbett.

Within the past several weeks, according to published reports, Kelly has appointed special prosecutor Joseph McGettigan to lead the case against Sandusky. His colleagues have called him one of eastern Pennsylvania's top homicide prosecutors, according to a report from the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review.

Joseph Amendola
Amendola is among the highest-profile criminal defense attorneys in Centre County. Outside of the Sandusky case, arguably his most prominent case in the past couple years involved former State College schools Superintendent Richard Mextorf, charged with DUI.

A lengthy Associated Press profile of Amendola, published over the weekend, notes that the Philadelphia-area native holds a history degree from Penn State and a law degree from Georgetown.

He began his career in the Philadelphia district attorney's office before returning to the State College area, the AP noted. He has worked in the area for three decades, the news service reported.

Amendola's defense work has involved a variety of sexual-abuse and -misconduct and DUI cases, including claims against former Penn State football players. A few years ago, he represented former Penn State student Anthony Torsell, who was charged and convicted in a fatal, DUI-related car crash at Atherton Street and Beaver Avenue.

For his approach in defending Sandusky -- which has included national news-media interviews featuring Sandusky himself -- Amendola has drawn some criticism from legal experts. But Amendola, speaking with the AP, has said there's a method behind his work in the case.

Amendola, who is a divorced father, lives in the State College area.

Related coverage

• StateCollege.com's earlier and ongoing coverage of the Penn State-charges situation