Jerry Sandusky’s attorney says everyone should “stay tuned” to find out if the former Penn State assistant coach will take the stand in his high-profile child sex abuse trial.
Defense attorney Joe Amendola declined to say if Sandusky would testify as he entered the courthouse Tuesday morning. Amendola said the case is like a soap opera, comparing it to “General Hospital” and “All My Children.”
As of 10:30 a.m. Tuesday, the defense had called nine 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.
A retired Pennsylvania State Police corporal testified that he interviewed some of Sandusky’s accusers, and some shifted their accounts of the allegations.
Prosecutors wrapped up their case on Monday after calling 21 witnesses, including eight accusers. The 68-year-old Sandusky is charged with 51 criminal counts for alleged sexual assaults on 10 boys over a 15-year span. He has denied the allegations, and his attorney has suggested the accusers have financial motives.
The defense case began yesterday with six witnesses testifying about Sandusky’s reputation in the community and the demanding hours and travel required of Penn State coaches. Besides Sandusky, possible witnesses include his wife, Dottie, and family members of late Penn State coach Joe Paterno.
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.
On Friday, Cleland ruled in favor of a Sandusky motion seeking to put evidence of “histrionic personality disorder” before jurors. 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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