Jurors in Jerry Sandusky’s child sex abuse trial listened again today 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 the 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 33-year-old adopted son, Matt, 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.
