Dottie Sandusky is on the witness stand in defense of her husband, who is charged with 51 criminal counts for alleged sexual assaults on 10 boys over a 15-year span.
Former Penn State University coach Jerry Sandusky, 68, has denied the allegations against him and his attorney has suggested the accusers have financial motives.
Dottie Sandusky is not charged in the case. She has stood by her husband, posting his bail, accompanying him to court proceedings and issuing a statement in December that proclaimed his innocence and said that accusers were making up their stories. One witness has already testified that he was attacked the Sanduskys’ basement and once tried to cry out for help when she was upstairs. Her initial remarks during the start of her testimony Tuesday focused on how she and her husband met.
It was still unknown as of Tuesday afternoon if Sandusky himself would testify. When defense attorney Joe Amendola entered the courthouse Tuesday morning, he said everyone should “stay tuned” to find out if the former Penn State assistant coach will take the stand in his high-profile trial.
Amendola said the case is like a soap opera, comparing it to “General Hospital” and “All My Children.”
Elliot Atkins, a psychologist, testified on Tuesday about evidence that Sandusky allegedly has “histrionic personality disorder” before jurors. The psychiatric condition that explain his letters and other alleged grooming of victims, the defense says.
The defense said people with the disorder wouldn’t necessarily be grooming boys to molest them, but instead to “satisfy the needs of a psyche” with the disorder.
Sandusky’s defense team started presenting its case on Monday. On Tuesday, a retired Pennsylvania State Police corporal testified that he interviewed some of Sandusky’s accusers, and some shifted their accounts of the allegations.
Sandusky’s attorneys are trying to link the evolving testimony of accusers to details investigators shared with them during interviews.
The defense is trying to demonstrate the eight alleged victims could have been reacting to seeds planted by investigators when they said they had been sexually abused by the former Penn State assistant football coach.
The retired corporal said that he did not recall sharing details of specific sex acts with accusers. But Amendola read him an interview transcript where he told one accuser that police had received reports of oral sex and rape involving Sandusky.
Sandusky’s defense team has also called numerous character witnesses to the stand. One witness said he was involved in the Second Mile charity that Sandusky founded and said he stayed overnight at Sandusky’s home numerous times.
“I knew others who knew Sandusky who thought he was a great guy,” Josh Greene said.
Two other witnesses who were also involved with the Second Mile said they had no issues with Sandusky
In addition, two former Penn State professors also testified about Sandusky’s character, with one, Jack Willenbrock, saying that Sandusky has an “excellent reputation among our children. He is a father figure and also respected for what he did professionally.”
Willenbrock said he and his wife moved to the area in 1968, and his family has known the Sanduskys through church and other activities.
On Monday, the defense called six witnesses to testify about Sandusky’s reputation in the community and the demanding hours and travel required of Penn State coaches.
The first defense witness in Sandusky’s child sex-abuse trial said he and other Penn State coaches were present in team showers when the longtime assistant brought young boys into them.
Former Penn State assistant coach Dick Anderson said Monday that he never saw anything inappropriate when Sandusky brought boys into locker room showers. Anderson said it’s also not unusual for him to shower with boys at the YMCA, either.
The judge overseeing the trial said it’s likely that defense lawyers will rest by Wednesday and that jurors could be deliberating the 51 child sex abuse charges against the former Penn State assistant football coach on Thursday.
Judge John Cleland told jurors of the tentative timeline after Sandusky’s legal team called three witnesses on Monday. Cleland also told jurors they will be sequestered for deliberations.
Prosecutors wrapped up their case on Monday after calling 21 witnesses, including eight accusers.
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