Sandusky jurors begin Day 2 of deliberations

BELLEFONTE, Pa. — Jurors in Jerry Sandusky’s child sex abuse trial
listened again Friday to testimony from a key prosecution witness against the
former Penn State assistant football coach, then went back behind closed doors
for a second day of deliberations.

The jury had talked for more than eight hours Thursday before adjourning at the
end of a long session that featured dueling portrayals of Sandusky as a “predatory pedophile” or the victim of a conspiracy between investigators and
his accusers.

They started their second day by rehearing testimony given by another Penn
State assistant, Mike McQueary, about an unknown boy alleged assaulted by
Sandusky inside a football facility shower.

The jurors took copious notes, appearing to pay close attention to McQueary’s
statement that he did not see penetration, but did see a boy pressed up against
a wall with Sandusky behind him.

Jurors also reheard the testimony of a McQueary family friend, Dr. Jonathan
Dranov, who said that McQueary told him a different version of the story that
didn’t include the then-graduate assistant seeing sexual contact.

However, McQueary testified that he hadn’t told Dranov all that he saw.

As attorneys read testimony from transcripts, Sandusky paid close attention
while his wife, Dottie, sat behind him. It was the first time Dottie Sandusky
heard the testimony, because she wasn’t present when the two men took the stand.

Sandusky is accused of sexually abusing 10 boys over a 15-year period, using
his charity for at-risk youth, The Second Mile, as a source of victims who would
be dazzled by gifts, grateful for his attention and — perhaps most importantly — unlikely to speak up.

Sandusky has repeatedly denied the allegations. The defense portrayed him as
the hapless victim of a conspiracy to convict him of heinous crimes. They
explain the 48 charges against him as the result of an investigatory team out
for blood and accusers who willingly played along in hopes of securing a big
payday.

Shortly after the jury began deliberations Thursday, attorneys for Sandusky’s
adopted son, Matt, 33, dropped a bombshell, saying he’d been abused by
the former coach and had been prepared to testify against him if called to the
stand.

Sequestered during deliberations, the jury was under orders from Judge John
Cleland to ponder only the case placed in their hands.

The jury heard from eight accusers who claim Sandusky engaging in sexual
contact ranging from kissing and fondling to forced oral or anal sex.

One testified he felt at times like Sandusky’s son, at others his “girlfriend.”

A second accuser — a foster child at the time authorities say he was abused —
said Sandusky threatened he would never see his biological family again if he
told anyone he was forced to perform sex acts but later took it back and claimed to love him.

One accuser testified to receiving what he called “creepy love letters” from
Sandusky. “I know that I have made my share of mistakes,” read one handwritten
note. “However, I hope that I will be able to say that I cared. There has been
love in my heart.”

The defense said the longwinded letters were simply the manifestation of a
personality disorder characterized by excessive emotionality and attention
seeking.

Two people who prosecutors said were sexually abused by Sandusky haven’t been
identified. McQueary’s testimony is the basis for charges involving one of those
alleged victims.

It was also McQueary’s testimony that touched off the massive scandal that
rocked Penn State and forced a re-examination of the role of college
administrators in reporting abuse allegations.

Sandusky has denied the allegations, but did not testify in his own defense.
Jurors are aware, however, of the denials he gave TV newsmagazine show “Rock Center” just after his
arrest. In it, Sandusky seemed to stumble at times and struggled to give direct
answers to questions about his conduct.

Asked if he was sexually attracted to boys, Sandusky told NBC’s Bob Costas:
“Sexually attracted, you know, I, I enjoy young people. I, I love to be around
them. … No, I’m not sexually attracted to young boys.”

Senior Deputy Attorney General Joseph McGettigan III seized on that in closing
arguments, saying: “I would think that the automatic response, if someone asks
you if you’re a criminal, a pedophile, a child molester, or anything along those
lines, would be: ‘You’re crazy. No. Are you nuts?’ ”

Prosecutors said Sandusky used gifts and the allure of Penn State’s vaunted
football program to attract and abuse vulnerable boys who came from troubled
homes, often ones without a father figure in the house.

“What you should do is come out and say to the defendant that he molested and
abused and give them back their souls,” McGettigan told jurors. “I give them
to you. Acknowledge and give them justice.”

Defense attorney Joe Amendola argued that Sandusky was targeted by
investigators who coached accusers into making false claims about a generous man
whose charity gave them much-needed love.

“So out of the blue (after) all these years, when Jerry Sandusky is in his
mid-50s, he decides to become a pedophile? Does that make sense to anybody?”
Amendola asked rhetorically.

The jury, which includes nine people with ties to Penn State, had already begun
deliberating when Matt Sandusky’s attorneys issued a statement alleging that his
father abused him.

“During the trial, Matt Sandusky contacted us and requested our advice and
assistance in arranging a meeting with prosecutors to disclose for the first
time in this case that he is a victim of Jerry Sandusky’s abuse,” Andrew Shubin
and Justine Andronici said in the statement. “At Matt’s request, we immediately
arranged a meeting between him and the prosecutors and investigators.

“This has been an extremely painful experience for Matt and he has asked us to
convey his request that the media respect his privacy. There will be no further
comment.”

Matt Sandusky went to live with Sandusky and his wife as a foster child and was
adopted by them as an adult. He is one of Jerry Sandusky’s six adopted children.

Shortly after Jerry Sandusky’s arrest, Matt Sandusky’s ex-wife went to court to
keep her former father-in-law away from their three young children. Jill Jones
successfully obtained a restraining order forbidding the children from sleeping
over at their grandparents’ home.

Around the same time, details emerged that Matt Sandusky had attempted suicide
just four months after first going to live with the couple in 1995. He had come
into the home through The Second Mile.

Shortly after the suicide attempt, Sandusky’s probation officer wrote, “The
probation department has some serious concerns about the juvenile’s safety and
his current progress in placement with the Sandusky family,” according to court
records supplied to The Associated Press by his birth mother, Debra Long.

Despite those concerns, probation and child welfare officials recommended
continued placement with the Sandusky family, and the judge overseeing his case
agreed.

During testimony last week, an accuser known as Victim 4 said Matt Sandusky was
living at the Sandusky home at the time he stayed there overnight and testified
that Jerry Sandusky came into the shower with the two boys and “started pumping
his hand full of soap.” Matt Sandusky shut off the shower and left, appearing
nervous, the witness said.

On Friday, three of Matt Sandusky’s siblings — Jeffrey Sandusky, Jon Sandusky
and Kara Werner — were in court with their parents.

Another son, Ray Sandusky, who lives in Brentwood, Tenn., said he had no
comment and closed the door on an Associated Press reporter.

A sixth Sandusky child, E.J., could not be located by the AP on Friday.

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Associated Press writers Teresa M. Walker in Tennessee, Michael Rubinkam and
Maryclaire Dale in Pennsylvania contributed to this report.