Child Abuse, Jerry Sandusky Trial | featured news

Jerry Sandusky was sentenced Tuesday to at least 30 years in prison - effectively a life sentence - in the child sexual abuse scandal that brought shame to Penn State and led to coach Joe Paterno's downfall.

University tries to move forward after a long, public ordeal. All of the five TVs in Bill Pickle's Tap Room are tuned into the news. The verdict is in for the former Penn State assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky child sex abuse case.

Jerry Sandusky was convicted Friday of sexually assaulting 10 boys over 15 years, accusations that shattered the Happy Valley image of Penn State football and led to the firing of Hall of Fame coach Joe Paterno. Sandusky, a 68-year-old retired defensive coach who was once Paterno's heir apparent, was found guilty of 45 of 48 counts.

The lead defense attorney representing Jerry Sandusky told reporters on Friday that it would be a shock if the former Penn State University assistant football coach were acquitted of all of the charges of sexually abusing children now being weighed by sequestered jurors.

Lawyers for one of Jerry Sandusky's adopted sons said the man has told authorities the former Penn State assistant football coach abused him. The lawyers issued a statement Thursday naming Matt Sandusky, one of Jerry Sandusky's six adopted children, and saying that the 33-year-old had been prepared to testify on behalf of prosecutors at his father's sex abuse trial.

The defense team for Jerry Sandusky, who is accused of sexually abusing 10 boys over a 15-year period, rested on Wednesday without the former assistant football coach taking the stand.

The defense has begun the public rehabilitation of Jerry Sandusky, hoping to portray the former Penn State University assistant football coach as a normal human being rather than the predatory pedophile that prosecutors presented to the jury.

The defense began presenting its case in the Jerry Sandusky child sex-abuse trial Monday as it called three witnesses to the stand, but it remains unclear if Sandusky himself would testify.

Eight young men who said they were molested by Jerry Sandusky told unforgettable stories about a man who called himself "The Great Pretender."

In what is becoming a theme, three more men described Wednesday how they received gifts, attention and even declarations of love from former Penn State assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky, who would later force inappropriate sexual contact on them.