The judge overseeing Jerry Sandusky’s trial says 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 a day later.
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.
Afterward, court was recessed for the day to deal with what Cleland called a “technical issue” involving other witnesses. After the proceedings ended for the day, when asked if he would testify, Sandusky looked a reporter in the eye and said nothing.
Prosecutors wrapped up their case around 11 a.m. Monday. The 68-year-old Sandusky has denied allegations of abusing 10 boys over a 15-year period, and his attorney has suggested the accusers have financial motives.
All three defense witnesses say on Monday that Sandusky was an admired local figure because of his ties to Penn State and the outreach of his charity, the Second Mile.
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. He also testified about the busy schedule Penn State coaches kept.
Earlier, prosecutors with the state attorney general’s office dropped one of the 52 counts against Sandusky, citing a timing issue. Prosecutors said the statute he was charged under did not apply at the time of the alleged illegal contact.
The encounter involved in the charge occurred in 1995 or 1996, but prosecutors said the statute didn’t apply until 1997. More counts related to the accuser dubbed Victim 7 by prosecutors are still pending.
Jurors have already heard from prosecution witnesses, including eight young men who said Sandusky sexually abused them as children. Jurors also heard testimony from assistant coach Mike McQueary, who said he saw Sandusky, naked in a team shower, apparently sodomizing a boy; a police detective who investigated Sandusky in 1998 and said charges should have been filed then; and a man who testified that his co-worker at Penn State saw Sandusky making a boy perform oral sex on him.
Prosecutors rested Monday morning after the mother of one of the alleged victims testified that her son’s underwear would frequently be missing from his laundry. Her son had told jurors Sandusky’s abuse caused him to bleed.
According to 6 News’ Gary Sinderson, who has been in the courtroom for proceedings, Sandusky attorney Karl Rominger again asked the judge on Monday to dismiss a host of charges, calling the charges unspecific and arguing that the charges were too vague. The defense also raised a jurisdiction issue, asking if all of the alleged acts occurred in Centre County.
Rominger argued that the person referred to in court documents as Victim No. 2, who was a boy allegedly sexually assaulted in a shower, should be “indecent assault” at best. He then asked the judge to dismiss accusers No. 2, 6 and 8 in total.
Prosecutors responded with specific case law to uphold and admitted that Victim No. 2 is a combination of direct and circumstantial evidence.
Cleland dismissed the defense’s arguments and motions. He said regarding Victim No. 2, that the jury should hear that case and make a decision. Cleland said at the beginning he was concerned about nonspecific charges, but said prosecutors have provided more details, and the case meets the standard for due process.
On Friday, Cleland ruled in favor of a Sandusky motion seeking to put evidence of “histrionic personality disorder” before jurors in his child sexual abuse case. The ruling means Sandusky can have an expert testify about a psychiatric condition that could explain his letters and other alleged grooming of victims.
Cleland’s order said Sandusky must also make himself available for prosecutors so they can prepare rebuttal testimony.
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.
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