Jerry Sandusky is back in a place he definitely doesn’t want to be.
The former Penn State assistant football coach is in jail, on suicide watch, after a jury convicted him late Friday of sexually abusing 10 boys over 15 years.
Sandusky, 68, had been free on bail before his trial began two weeks ago but was handcuffed immediately after his 12 peers pronounced him guilty of all but three of the 48 charges against him.
Today, he is at the Centre County Correctional Facility — the same lockup where he spent a night in December. That night, the other prisoners harassed him. Now, they’re more than likely to do it again.
His last time behind bars, Sandusky was held alone in a cell in a special unit reserved for sexual offenders or people with mental illnesses, according to another inmate there last winter. The 22-year-old offender identified himself as Josh and asked that his surname not be used because he is embarrassed about his crime.
Other prisoners were barred from communicating directly with Sandusky, but they could see him. And when the lights went out, inmates serenaded the disgraced coach with a famous line from Pink Floyd’s “The Wall.”
“At night, we were singing ‘Hey, teacher, leave those kids alone,’ ” Josh said, adding that everyone knew who Sandusky was because inmates had access to television and newspapers. The jail can hold 349 inmates.
Sandusky landed in jail on that occasion after a grand jury voted to add additional counts to the explosive allegations first filed against him in November.
The allegation that Sandusky had used his position at Penn State to coerce children into sex, and even raped children on university grounds, helped bring an ignoble end to the 45-year head coaching career of Penn State football icon Joe Paterno.
In the end, Sandusky was convicted of 45 of 48 charges. Mandatory minimum sentences will likely keep him behind bars for the rest of his life.
One juror, Joshua Harper, told NBC’s “Today” show yesterday that the jurors believed the stories of eight young men who took the stand, despite some inconsistencies in their testimony.
But Harper said they were unable to convict Sandusky of the most serious charge related to Victim 2. The victim, a pre-adolescent at the time of the alleged attack a decade ago, had been an key part of the case since it was revealed that assistant Penn State football coach Mike McQueary said he saw Sandusky raping the boy in a locker-room shower.
In testimony, McQueary said he reported what he saw to Paterno the following day. Paterno later claimed he told other school officials but never informed law enforcement. Paterno was fired just days after Sandusky was charged in November and died of lung cancer in January at 85.
On the stand, McQueary said he saw what he believed was a rape but didn’t see actual penetration. Based on that ambiguity, Sandusky was acquitted of one of five charges related to that victim.
“I just kept going back to — ‘Why would McQueary lie about this?’ — and he was sure, and he made it very apparent that he saw something that was wrong and very sexual,” Harper said.
Sandusky’s lawyer, Joseph Amendola, told CNN Friday after the verdict that his client will be held in protective custody until sentencing, which is expected within 90 days.
Amendola’s co-counsel, Karl Rominger, said yesterday they made a motion to withdraw from the case as jury selection began but that Judge John Cleland ruled against it.
Rominger said the discussion took place in the judge’s chambers, and the motion was filed under seal. The pair have said repeatedly that didn’t have enough time to properly prepare for the complex case.
Now, Sandusky, Your Surrounded By Bricks In A Wall For The Rest Of Your Life
View this video on YouTube
Share This Article
