Sandusky Trial: Prosecution Rests After Dropping One Count

The prosecution rested on Monday as the defense in the Jerry Sandusky child sexual abuse trial began putting its own witnesses on the stand. According to reports Sandusky may take the witness stand in his own defense.

Sandusky is currently facing dozens of charges stemming from allegations that he molested 10 boys over a 15 year period.

Last week the prosecution presented jurors with testimony from eight young men who said the former Penn State assistant football coach molested them. According to prosecutors Jerry Sandusky was a calculated molester who met his victims through a charity he founded for at-risk youth.

The mother of “victim 9” was the final witness for the prosecution, she claimed that her sons underwear constantly went missing and at the time she was told he kept having accidents in them. The unidentified victim than testified that Jerry Sandusky had actually forced him to have anal sex which caused bleeding and led to the lost underwear.

Victims say Sandusky provided them with gifts and used his power and prestige as a Penn State football coach to win them over. In some cases oral sex was performed, in other cases outright rape.

Prosecutors had charged Jerry Sandusky with 52 counts but dropped one of those counts because of a “timing issue” in which one case from 1995 or 1997 was outside of a statute that didn’t apply until 1997. The defense had asked for various other charged to be dropped however their request was denied on Monday.

The defense in the meantime is using the strategy that stories of the victims have changed over time and that they were coached by investigators and prosecutors in order to win money from a civil lawsuit. The defense plans to claim that Sandusky’s interaction with the children was misunderstood.

According to attorney Joseph Amendola:

“Jerry, in my opinion, loves kids so much that he does things none of us would ever do.”

That may not have been the best choice in wording on the part of the defense.