Witness: Sandusky abused on campus, in saunas**TRIAL THREAD**

[apples]

                       (CBS/AP) BELLEFONTE, Pa. - The first witness in Jerry Sandusky's trial said the former Penn State assistant football coach sexually abused him as a young teenager on campus and in hotel saunas and later sent him "creepy love letters."

The witness, dubbed Victim No. 4 by prosecutors, said what began as "soap battles" in the shower escalated into inappropriate touching and oral sex.

The man, now 28, was the first of eight alleged victims expected to testify during the trial, which began Monday with opening statements.

Sandusky faces 52 criminal counts that he sexually abused 10 boys over 15 years, allegations he has denied. His arrest and the fallout led to departures of longtime football coach Joe Paterno and the university president.

The trial is expected to last several weeks.

Lead prosecutor Joseph McGettigan III opened Sandusky's highly anticipated trial Monday by telling jurors that the 68-year-old retired coach was a pedophile who took advantage of fatherless children or those with unstable home lives, plied them with gifts and sexually abused them for years.

Defense lawyer Joe Amendola countered that some of the alleged victims had hired civil lawyers and had a financial interest in pursuing the criminal case.

Sandusky sat still as the first witness explained that he began showering with the former assistant coach in 1997. The man said he had met Sandusky through The Second Mile, the children's charity the assistant coach had founded.

The witness spoke calmly and firmly when questioned by McGettigan. Wearing a white shirt, dark tie and dark pants, he looked straight ahead at McGettigan during questioning. He gestured at times when asked to describe interactions with Sandusky.

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-201_162-57450492/witness-sandusky-abused-on-campus-in-saunas/

[apples]

Accusers testify vs. Jerry Sandusky

BELLEFONTE, Pa. -- Three accusers testified Wednesday that Jerry Sandusky sexually assaulted them, often offering up football tickets, gifts and attention in a bid to win their trust. One said he was told he'd never see his family again if he said anything.

The accusers spoke with conviction to jurors at the former Penn State assistant football coach's sex abuse trial, yet they also grappled with trying emotional circumstances as they recalled events that took place years earlier.

One man, now 25, said Sandusky pinned him down and performed oral sex on him, threatened to keep him from seeing his family if he reported what happened and then later told him he loved him.

The man, called Victim 10 by prosecutors, told jurors Sandusky assaulted him in the basement of the ex-coach's State College home in the late 1990s. The witness was in foster care at the time and occasionally stayed over at the Sandusky home.

"He told me that if I ever told anyone that I'd never see my family again," the accuser testified.

Later, Sandusky offered a more conciliatory tone.

"He apologized for saying that," the witness said. "He told me he didn't mean it and that he loved me."

The man said Sandusky also assaulted him on other occasions in 1998 and 1999, including once at a pool and another time in the same basement that involved mutual oral sex. He said he was about 11 years old at time of the alleged assaults.

Sandusky is on trial on 52 criminal counts involving alleged assaults against 10 boys over a 15-year span.

Under cross-examination, the man testified that he was the roommate of another Sandusky accuser at a camp sponsored by Sandusky's charity, The Second Mile.

The alleged victim also acknowledged having spent nearly two years in state prison for a robbery and involvement with drugs and alcohol, but said he was doing better

http://espn.go.com/college-football/story/_/id/8046781/penn-state-nittany-lions-three-more-accusers-testify-vs-jerry-sandusky

[apples]

Sandusky threatened boy, alleged victim testifies

Bellefonte, Pennsylvania (CNN) -- A 25-year-old man testified Wednesday that as a boy, he was abused by Jerry Sandusky and that Sandusky threatened him and then later apologized, telling the child that he loved him and that he didn't mean the threat.

The man spoke on the third day of testimony in the high-profile child rape case against Penn State's former defensive coordinator. The witness was one of 10 boys, prosecutors say, who were sexually abused over a span of 15 years by the former coach.

"He told me that if I told anybody, that I would never see my family again," said the man identified as "Alleged Victim No. 10."

He testified the school's longtime assistant football coach sexually abused him on at least five different occasions in the basement of his central Pennsylvania home, pinning him down and engaging in oral sex.

He said that he didn't mean it, and that he loved me," the man said.

Sandusky, who seemed expressionless during Wednesday's proceeding, has pleaded not guilty to 52 criminal counts and denied his interactions with the children were sexual. The trial is expected to continue for about three weeks, though court observers say the proceeding has moved at a rapid pace.

John McQueary, the father of a then-graduate assistant who testified he saw Sandusky raping a boy in a university shower, also took the stand Wednesday morning.

"I knew there was something wrong," the elder McQueary said, describing a phone conversation with his son following the alleged incident.

http://www.cnn.com/2012/06/13/justice/pennsylvania-sandusky-trial/index.html?hpt=hp_t1

[apples]

More alleged victims to testify at Sandusky trial

                         Bellefonte, Pennsylvania (CNN) -- The prosecution is expected to call more witnesses Thursday in the case against former Penn State coach Jerry Sandusky, who is accused of sexually abusing boys over a 15-year period.

"Things are moving along quicker than anticipated," Pennsylvania judge John Cleland said before ending Wednesday's proceedings.

The prosecution could be finished calling witnesses by Friday, he said.

Jurors on Wednesday heard graphic testimony from three alleged victims, the father of a then-graduate assistant who said he witnessed Sandusky raping a boy, and a janitor who testified that he saw two pairs of legs in a shower, believed to be the ex-coach and a child.

After he saw the legs, Ron Petrosky said another janitor, who suffers from dementia and isn't able to testify, said he witnessed Sandusky performing oral sex on the boy. Defense attorney Joe Amendola sought to make that testimony inadmissible.

The men spoke on the third day of the case against the former assistant football coach, who's pleaded not guilty to the 52 criminal counts and has denied his interactions with the children were sexual.

Five of 10 alleged victims have so far testified, and two of those are not expected to take the stand.

Among those who testified Wednesday was a 25-year-old man identified as "Alleged Victim No. 10" who said that as a boy, Sandusky abused him on at least five occasions in the basement of Sandusky's Pennsylvania home.

Sandusky sat expressionless during a trial that was initially expected to continue for three weeks but has since progressed more rapidly than expected.

John McQueary, the father of a then-graduate assistant who says he witnessed a rape, also took the stand Wednesday.

"I knew there was something wrong," the elder McQueary said, describing a phone conversation with his son after the alleged incident.

http://www.cnn.com/2012/06/14/justice/pennsylvania-sandusky-trial/index.html?hpt=hp_t2

If this vile piece doesn't serve time in prison..................the world is really messed up.

[apples]

Jerry Sandusky Trial Witness Says Coach Was 'Tickle Monster' in Shower

  A young boy growing up in State College, Pa., who idolized the Penn State football team said today that the day he got to try on football helmets and shoulder pads from the star players, ones that "were huge for me, would just sort of float around" was a thrilling day -- until assistant coach Jerry Sandusky asked him to take a shower.

The man, now 24, said in court today that Sandusky bear-hugged him, tickled him, called himself the "tickle monster" and lifted him up in the shower saying he was going to "squeeze (the boy's) guts out."

The shower made him "uncomfortable," but the memory of what happened stopped there. The man, identified as Victim 6, said he "blacked out" when Sandusky lifted him up in the shower, and he could not remember exactly what happened next.

"Then he had his hands around my waist and lifted me up to the shower head to get the soap out of my hair. I believe my chest was to his chest," he said. "I don't think it was touching but I remember going into the shower head and having to close my eyes so soap wouldn't go in, and that's the last thing I remember about being in the shower. That's the best recollection I've got.

"I don't even remember being put down," he said. "Everything else is just blacked out. I don't remember any more."                         

http://abcnews.go.com/US/jerry-sandusky-trial-witness-coach-tickle-monster-shower/story?id=16561876#.T9oFs5hlBdg

[JohnBrowdie]

I don't understand what this monster's defense could be.  that all 10 of them are lying?

[apples]

Sandusky prosecution brings 8th accuser to stand

BELLEFONTE, Pa. (AP) -- Jurors in Jerry Sandusky's case were told Thursday the trial would not resume until next week after prosecutors finished calling to the stand eight young men who claimed the former Penn State assistant coach sexually abused them when they were children.

Sandusky's trial on 52 criminal counts has moved more quickly than many observers have expected, and his lawyers could begin to put on their witnesses as early as Monday. There are two alleged victims have never been identified.

Testimony on Thursday included three more accusers, including a young man who claimed the 68-year-old Sandusky raped him as a teen guest in Sandusky's basement.                           

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_PENN_STATE_ABUSE?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2012-06-14-11-10-36

[apples]

Judge allows Sandusky to put on disorder testimony

  BELLEFONTE, Pa. (AP) — Jerry Sandusky won a court ruling Friday that will let him have an expert testify about a psychiatric condition that his lawyer says helps explain letters he wrote to his accusers and other actions being construed as him grooming victims.

Judge John Cleland granted a motion that sought to put evidence of "histrionic personality disorder" before jurors in Sandusky's child sexual abuse case.

Cleland's order also said the former Penn State assistant football coach must make himself available for prosecutors so they can prepare rebuttal psychiatric testimony.

The American Psychiatric Association's diagnostic manual calls histrionic personality disorder "a pervasive pattern of excessive emotionality and attention seeking" and "often characterized by inappropriate sexually seductive or provocative behavior" and rapidly shifting emotions.

The defense motion said people with the condition would not necessarily be grooming boys to molest them but instead might be trying to "satisfy the needs of a psyche" with the disorder.

"The jury should not be misled into believing these statements and actions are likely grooming when they are just as likely or more likely histrionic in origin," wrote defense attorney Karl Rominger in the June 11 filing.                       

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5h1fRfDuVrpxsH1BxtpEpQfoS80cA?docId=929366d8dec944559d0ce406ced199a3

[apples]

Hints of Sandusky defense strategy emerge after child abuse trial’s first week of testimony

                             Amendola’s opening statement, court documents and four days of witness cross-examination provide something of a road map to the defense’s strategy, which has been aimed at creating enough doubt in jurors’ minds to avoid a conviction that could send Sandusky to prison for life.

The defense has sought to show how the stories of accusers have changed over time, that they were prodded and coached by investigators and prosecutors, that some are motivated to lie by the hopes of a civil lawsuit jackpot, and to paint Sandusky’s interactions with children as misunderstood and part of a lifelong effort to help, rather than victimize them.

“Jerry, in my opinion, loves kids so much that he does things none of us would ever do,” Amendola said at the start of trial.

Lawyers pursuing a credibility defense try to give jurors reasons to disbelieve the narrative presented by prosecutors, and a financial gain motive or a changing story can be part of that, said University of Pittsburgh law professor David A. Harris.

“This is all standard procedure for building a reasonable doubt defense,” said Harris, who has worked as a defense lawyer and prosecutor. “What they don’t have here is any way to say, ‘OK, these kids have been molested, but somebody else did it.’”

The first four days of testimony, however, may have already cast the die, if jurors have made up their minds about the credibility of the eight accusers, young men ages 18 to 28, six without a father in their lives, three who have never known their fathers. That doesn’t mean they can’t be swayed by defense evidence, and the judge will caution them to keep an open mind, Harris said.

“But what we’re talking about is human nature here, and people have heard a lot already,” he said.

In a large and crowded courtroom, with a crush of national media watching their every word, the accusers recounted in detail their experiences with the 68-year-old Sandusky, allegations that include severe sexual attacks of children too scared and too small to escape or fight back.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/hints-of-sandusky-defense-strategy-emerge-after-child-abuse-trials-first-week-of-testimony/2012/06/17/gJQAZQPLjV_story.html

[apples]

Prosecutors drop one of 52 counts against Sandusky in child sex abuse case

    BELLEFONTE, Pa. –  Prosecutors in Jerry Sandusky's child sex-abuse trial dropped one of the 52 counts against him Monday because the statute he was charged under did not apply at the time of the alleged illegal contact.

The charge relates to an accuser identified by prosecutors as Victim 7.

During testimony, the man said the offense happened in 1995 or 1996, but the unlawful contact with a minor statute didn't apply until 1997, prosecutors told the judge overseeing the case. Three charges related to the man are still in effect, including attempted indecent assault.

Prosecutors also said they planned to call one more witness Monday before resting their case. The defense would then begin presenting its own witnesses although it remains unclear if Sandusky himself would testify.

Sandusky now is charged with 51 counts accusing him of sexually abusing 10 boys over a 15-year span. He denies any wrongdoing.

Prosecutors presented 20 witnesses in the first four days of testimony last week, including eight boys who said Sandusky abused them.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/us/2012/06/18/sandusky-could-take-stand-as-trial-second-week-turns-to-defense-case/?test=latestnews#ixzz1y9wM92dJ
                   

this weekend heard on TV his defense team will try to say he has a mental defect..histrionic or some such thing.

[apples]

Bellefonte, Pennsylvania (CNN) -- The judge in the Jerry Sandusky child sexual abuse trial rejected defense motions to drop several charges in the case on Monday.

Judge John Cleland rejected defense arguments that the charges were too vague or testimony did not support the claims.

Prosecutors did withdraw one charge of unlawful contact with a minor involving one of the defendants. The law was not in effect during the time the alleged misconduct occurred, prosecutors said.

The trial was to resume Monday with one brief prosecution witness, Cleland said. Then Sandusky's attorneys were to present their case defending the former Penn State assistant football coach on the remaining 51 counts.

Prosecutors say Sandusky, 68, abused at least 10 boys over a 15-year span. He has denied the charges.

A main focus of the defense's strategy may be to attempt to poke holes in the prosecution's case thus far.

SNIP


The defense is expected to call an expert witness to testify that Sandusky may have "histrionic personality disorder," which the National Institutes of Health defines as acting "in a very emotional and dramatic way that draws attention to themselves."

http://www.cnn.com/2012/06/18/justice/pennsylvania-sandusky-trial/index.html?hpt=hp_t2

[apples]

Jerry Sandusky Trial: Defense witness says Sandusky had an "exemplary" reputation

(CBS/AP) BELLEFONTE, Pa. - The first defense witness called in the child-sex abuse case of Jerry Sandusky testified Monday morning that he "never saw anything inappropriate" between the former assistant football coach and any young boys while they showered.



Richard E. Anderson, a retired member of the Penn State coaching staff, was called as a character witness. Anderson said it was not unusual for him to shower with boys at the YMCA, either.

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-504083_162-57455263-504083/jerry-sandusky-trial-defense-witness-says-sandusky-had-an-exemplary-reputation/

[apples]

Defense begins in Sandusky trial with colleagues' testimony

    "Jerry had a great reputation," he said. He was "well thought of in every regard."

Anderson said that it was "part of my life" to be in locker rooms showering with either fellow coaches or young people.

Many of the 51 criminal counts against Sandusky allege that the former coach sexually abused young people in university shower rooms.

Booker Brooks, another former Sandusky colleague, testified that showering with children following physical activities was a "very common thing."

"Were you naked?" defense lawyer Joe Amendola asked.

"I never shower with my clothes on," Brooks said, drawing laughter from the courtroom gallery.

Before the defense opened its case, the prosecution's last witness, the mother of one of Sandusky's alleged victims, said she felt responsible for encouraging her son to visit Sandusky's home. The boy said in testimony last week that he was sodomized and screamed for help.

The boy said that Sandusky's alleged assaults drew blood. His mother testified Monday that her son often returned from Sandusky's home without his underwear.

When she asked him about it she said her son told her he had an accident and threw the underwear away.

Earlier in court the judge overseeing the child sex abuse trial rejected a defense request to dismiss the bulk of the prosecution's case against Sandusky.

Defense lawyers argued that the exact dates and locations of much of the alleged abuse was not specific enough to establish Sandusky's whereabouts during those times.

And in charges related to two of the 10 alleged victims who have never been found by authorities, defense lawyers said there was insufficient evidence to determine that they were underage.                                   

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/story/2012-06-18/sandusky-child-sex-abuse-trial/55666576/1

[apples]

Jury could get case by Thursday

                   BELLEFONTE, Pa. -- Friends and ex-colleagues of Jerry Sandusky testified Monday on behalf of the former Penn State assistant football coach as his defense sought to counter prosecution witnesses' claims that he sexually abused boys in the shower on Penn State's campus.

The testimony came on what was a truncated day in a trial that has moved at a brisk pace since testimony began last week. Judge John Cleland told jurors that the defense could rest its case by Wednesday, which would mean closing arguments could come Thursday morning.

"This is all very tentative, you understand," he told the 12 jurors and four alternates, adding that since they will be sequestered in a hotel while they deliberate they should "pack appropriately."

http://espn.go.com/college-football/story/_/id/8066976/penn-state-nittany-lions-jerry-sandusky-judge-says-jury-get-case-thursday

[apples]

Prosecutors want damning Sandusky interview footage NBC didn't air

Accused Penn State pedophile Jerry Sandusky came off a lot creepier in that exclusive sitdown with NBC last November than anyone knew, but the Peacock Network oddly chose not to air what sounds a lot like an admission of guilt -- and now prosecutors want the whole transcript.

"I didn't go around seeking out every young person for sexual needs that I've helped," Sandusky told Costas in footage that never made the November airing.

The disturbing answer first came to light when NBC's "Today" show aired previously unseen transcripts last Tuesday. That prompted prosecutors from the Pennsylvania attorney general’s office to contact NBC lawyers on Friday to request that the network turn over and authenticate the entire transcript from the interview that was used to tape the segment that aired on the news program, “Rock Center with Brian Williams.”

The unaired segment includes a back-and-forth between Costas and Sandusky about his work with young people through his charity for troubled kids, the Second Mile.

"I'm a very passionate person in terms of trying to make a difference in the lives of some young people," Sandusky said. “I worked very hard to try to connect with them. To make them feel good about themselves. To be something significant in their lives. Maybe this gets misinterpreted, has gotten depending on. … I know a lot of young people where it hasn't. I have worked with many, many young people where there has been no misinterpretation of my actions and I have made a very significant difference in their lives.”

Costas then challenged Joe Paterno's one-time defensive coordinator, saying: "But isn't what you're just describing the classic MO of many pedophiles? And that is that they gain the trust of young people, they don't necessarily abuse every young person. There were hundreds, if not thousands, of young boys you came into contact with, but there are allegations that at least eight of them were victimized. Many people believe there are more to come.”

“So it's entirely possible that you could've helped young boy A in some way that was not objectionable while horribly taking advantage of young boy B, C, D and E. Isn't that possible?” Costas asked Sandusky during the interview.

Sandusky gave an unusual reply.

"Well -- you might think that. I don't know. In terms of -- my relationship with so many, many young people. I would -- I would guess that there are many young people who would come forward. Many more young people who would come forward and say that my methods and -- and what I had done for them made a very positive impact on their life.”

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/us/2012/06/18/prosecutors-request-transcripts-from-sandusky-interview-disturbing-unaired/#ixzz1yBArPPGz