THE VERDICT IS IN!! Jerry Sandusky has been found guilty on 45 of the 48 counts/ Sentenced to 30 to 60 years in prison/ Sandusky gives interview from prison

Jury is still deliberating this morning and reviewing testimony from two witnesses. I hope they have a verdict before they go home for the weekend!

The jury has reached a verdict. Sandusky is on his way to the courthouse right now. I don't know anything more than this. I'm watching CNN.

Sandusky and the Mrs. just arrived at the courthouse. Hope the verdict is announced soon.

The courthouse steps sure are crowded. I have a feeling it will be guilty but look what happened with TLMS so I sure don't want to speculate.

They just brought him out in handcuffs and put him in the Sheriff's car. I love it, no house arrest to await for sentencing. He deserves to be in jail!!!!!

Sandusky looks absolutely dumbfounded! I don't think he expected this. He's in handcuffs and being taken away from the courthouse in the Sheriff's car.
He's on his way to the local jail to await sentencing. He'll be under suicide watch for the first 24-48 hours. Sentencing to come.........heard this on CNN.

Former Penn State assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky was found guilty on 45 of the 48 counts he faced Friday in his child sex abuse trial.

He faces life in prison. Bail was revoked.

Sandusky, who retired in 1999, faced 48 counts of molesting 10 boys over the course of 15 years. Sandusky has denied the allegations.

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I agree BJ, he looks dumbfounded! When he arrived at the court both he and his wife didn't look like they expected this in fact each time I've seen him this is what I thought.

My son refuses to discuss this case w/me cause he says he is innocent. Wonder what he w/have to say now. Course, since we haven't discussed it in a good 6 mo, maybe he's changed his mind.

I didn't doubt for a second that he would be found Guilty!

Since TLMS got off I doubt it for every verdict I hear.
It will be interesting to know what A's opinion is now.

A jury has found Jerry Sandusky guilty of 45 of 48 counts in his child sex abuse trial, CNN has reported

The 68-year-old former Penn State assistant football coach was accused of abusing 10 boys over 15 years. He could have spent the rest of his life in prison if convicted of all counts.

The courtroom was closed by the time the jury and attorneys assembled for the verdict, and no one was allowed to leave until court was adjourned, the judge said in a court order. The verdict will be read count by count. Media are barred from transmitting any results of the verdict until adjournment, with the judge promising sanctions for any reporter or media organization violating his order.

Earlier in the evening, Sandusky's lawyer said he would be shocked and "die of a heart attack" if the former Penn State assistant football coach were acquitted on all counts in his child sex abuse trial.

The candid remarks by Joe Amendola lasted about 15 minutes inside the courtroom and opened a wide window into Sandusky's state of mind as he and his wife, Dottie, waited for a verdict.

Jurors began deliberating the case Thursday and talked all day Friday.

Amendola said the Sanduskys were spending a lot of time praying. He described the atmosphere at their home as like a funeral.

The couple was "crushed" Thursday when lawyers for one of their sons, Matt Sandusky, said the 33-year-old had been prepared to testify on behalf of prosecutors, Amendola said. Matt Sandusky said his father abused him, his attorneys said.

Amendola said he wasn't surprised by another man, Travis Weaver, who claimed during an NBC interview Thursday that he was abused by Sandusky more than 100 times in the early 1990s, or by any others who might come forward.

"Money does a lot of bad things to people," he said.

As for Sandusky and his family, Amendola said he has given them an objective appraisal of what they could expect.

"I've used the best example I could use: climbing Mount Everest from the bottom of the mountain," he said. "It's a daunting, daunting case."

He also said that Sandusky had his wife talk to a criminal defense lawyer a couple months ago "just to be careful."

Amendola's interview ended when he was summoned into the chambers of Judge John Cleland, who presided over the two-week trial. Cleland has issued a gag order barring lawyers from discussing the case.

The verdict will impact not only Sandusky and the eight young men who accused him of molestation, but a range of civil and criminal probes of the scandal that shamed the university and brought down coach Joe Paterno.

The jury's apparent focus on the charges involving an unknown boy called Victim 2 in court papers renewed attention on the separate criminal case against two former school officials.

Tim Curley, who temporarily stepped down as athletic director, and now-retired vice president Gary Schultz are charged with lying to a grand jury about what they knew of the 2001 assault that then-graduate assistant Mike McQueary said he witnessed.

Jurors took copious notes and appeared to pay close attention Friday as McQueary's two-hour testimony was read back to them. McQueary, who said he walked in on the assault, testified that he did not see penetration, but he did see a boy pressed up against a wall in the football team shower 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 sexual contact.

McQueary, however, also testified that he hadn't told Dranov everything that he saw.

The jury also sought details from the judge on charges connected to a boy known in court records as Victim 8. Cleland told the jurors in a brief courtroom meeting that they must be satisfied that there is other evidence that abuse occurred, not just statements from a janitor who relayed a co-worker's account.

On Friday, a judge in Harrisburg scheduled a July 11 status conference with lawyers for Curley and Schultz, who are also charged with failing to properly report suspected child abuse to authorities. They are fighting the charges and await trial.

Philadelphia attorney Fortunato Perri Jr., who has been following the Sandusky trial, said an acquittal of Sandusky on the counts involving Victim 2 could provide a road map for the defense of Curley and Schultz.

"You've now had a jury kind of preview your case with respect to the credibility of McQueary," Perri said. "Who knows if the next jury would believe him or not believe him? But you've got to feel pretty good if you're representing those two guys, and a jury has taken a good long look at McQueary's testimony and decided something didn't smell right about it."

Bruce Antkowiak, a former federal prosecutor and defense attorney who now teaches law at St. Vincent College near Latrobe, said the Sandusky jury's verdict on the charges involving Victim 2 is legally irrelevant to Curley and Schultz.

That's because, Antkowiak said, they are charged with violating a legal duty to properly report the allegation that Sandusky abused the boy — regardless of whether it was later proven.

"The underlying truth of what was going on in that shower doesn't affect their underlying obligation to report the initial allegation," Antkowiak said.

Defense lawyers for Curley and Schultz did not immediately respond to a request for comment Friday.

Sandusky has repeatedly denied the allegations against him. 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.

Even if he's acquitted, Sandusky could face additional criminal charges involving accusers who came forward after his November arrest.

The attorney general's office has said repeatedly that it has an "active and ongoing" investigation of Sandusky, while federal prosecutors in Harrisburg issued a wide-ranging subpoena in February for university computer records and other information.

Civil lawsuits also are likely against Sandusky, his Second Mile charity and Penn State.

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TMLS's case was a circus from the get-go so in retrospect due to the fact the DP was on the table, we should have known she'd walk. That being said, that jury did not get to hear everything and had they gone where her skull was found, I think they would have at the very least found her guilty of manslaughter.

Ya, w/be interesting to see what my sports nut son has to say now.

I doubt your sports nut son would let his three sons shower with Sandusky...... just sayin'.

BJ wrote:I doubt your sports nut son would let his three sons shower with Sandusky...... just sayin'.

True!! VERY True!

Jerry Sandusky found guilty in child sex abuse trial

UPDATED JUN 22, 2012 10:33 PM ET

Jerry Sandusky was convicted Friday of sexually assaulting 10 boys over 15 years, accusations that had sent shock waves through the college campus known as Happy Valley and led to the firing of Penn State's beloved 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 Friday of 48 counts. He faces life in prison at sentencing, which is weeks away.

Sandusky showed little emotion as the verdict was read. The judge ordered him to be taken to the county jail to await sentencing in about three months.

Eight young men testified in a central Pennsylvania courtroom about a range of abuse, from kissing and massages to groping, oral sex and anal rape. For two other alleged victims, prosecutors relied on testimony from a university janitor and then-graduate assistant Mike McQueary, whose account of a sexual encounter between Sandusky and a boy of about 10 ultimately led to the Paterno's dismissal and the university president's ouster.

Sandusky did not take the stand in his own defense.

He had repeatedly denied the allegations, and his defense suggested that his accusers had a financial motive to make up stories, years after the fact. His attorney also painted Sandusky as the victim of overzealous police investigators who coached the alleged victims into giving accusatory statements.

But jurors believed the testimony that, in the words of lead prosecutor Joseph McGettigan III, Sandusky was a ''predatory pedophile.''

One accuser testified that Sandusky molested him in the locker-room showers and in hotels while trying to ensure his silence with gifts and trips to bowl games. He also said Sandusky had sent him ''creepy love letters.''

Another spoke of forced oral sex and instances of rape in the basement of Sandusky's home, including abuse that left him bleeding. He said he once tried to scream for help, knowing that Sandusky's wife was upstairs, but figured the basement must be soundproof.

Another, a foster child, said Sandusky warned that he would never see his family again if he ever told anyone what happened.

And just hours after the case went to jurors, lawyers for one of Sandusky's six adopted children, Matt, said he had told authorities that his father abused him.

Matt Sandusky had been prepared to testify on behalf of prosecutors, the statement said. The lawyers said they arranged for Matt Sandusky to meet with law enforcement officials but did not explain why he didn't testify.

''This has been an extremely painful experience for Matt and he has asked us to convey his request that the media respect his privacy,'' the statement said. It didn't go into details about his allegations.

Defense witnesses, including Jerry Sandusky's wife, Dottie, described his philanthropic work with children over the years, and many spoke in positive terms about his reputation in the community. Prosecutors had portrayed those efforts as an effective means by which Sandusky could camouflage his molestation as he targeted boys who were the same age as participants in The Second Mile, a charity he founded in the 1970s for at-risk youth.

Sandusky's arrest in November led the Penn State trustees to fire Paterno as head coach, saying he exhibited a lack of leadership after fielding a report from McQueary. The scandal also led to the ouster of university president Graham Spanier, and criminal charges against two university administrators for failing to properly report suspected child abuse and perjury.

The two administrators, athletic director Tim Curley and now-retired vice president Gary Schultz, are fighting the allegations and await trial.

Sandusky had initially faced 52 counts of sex abuse. The judge dropped four counts during the trial, saying two were unproven, one was brought under a statute that didn't apply and another was duplicative.

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I wonder if Dottie Sandusky will ever see the light? Or has she seen it and decided to turn her head and look away?

Sentencing will be within the next 90 days.
Jurors will not be heard from tonight. They were told not to speak to reporters tonight.

Justice, sweet justice. Now I hope every single victim back to the very first one steps up to expose this degenerate and everyone who participated in the cover-up of his despicable crimes.

Maybe he should come clean about how this all started. Was he a victim? If he was, what would possess him to hurt others the way he had been hurt? What was he thinking when these little boys were bleeding from his abuse?

I hope that the school administrators spend many years in prison for their parts in the cover-up.

It's a shame that Joe-Pa died before this verdict came in. I think he was as confounded and as confused as some of the victims in this case were. They all knew it was wrong, but nobody knew what to do about it.

They couldn't trust that justice would be done, and they were right. Justice was prevented by the cover-up. Perhaps these guilty verdicts will enable future victims to have faith and to trust that their cases will be properly investigated and prosecuted.

BTW, what is Sandusky's native language? I have never understood a complete sentence he has ever spoken publicly...?

BJ wrote:The jury has reached a verdict. Sandusky is on his way to the courthouse right now. I don't know anything more than this. I'm watching CNN.

for the heads up last night. Looks like I missed the party. I enjoyed the posts from last night. Thanks to everyone that has contributed to this thread. I watched the coverage unfold on TV. It was awesome to see how hard the jury worked to come to a verdict. They took their job very seriously (unlike the jury in the Anthony case) This is how justice prevails. To see Sandusky walk out in hand cuffs was priceless. He was shaking his head in disbelief.

Jerry Sandusky was mercilessly taunted for HOURS during his first night in jail back in December -- when his fellow inmates chanted Pink Floyd's famous lyrics ... "Hey teacher, leave those kids alone!"

One of the men in the facility that night -- a 22-year-old named Josh -- described the events to The Daily, saying they sang the song over and over ... all night.

68-year-old Sandusky spent the night in jail following his second arrest on December 7th, 2011 -- after a grand jury voted to charge the former Penn State football coach with an additional 12 counts of child abuse, bringing his new total to 52.


That's when the above mug shot was taken.

Four counts were eventually dropped, leaving 48 remaining. Last week, Sandusky was found guilty on 45. He's currently awaiting sentencing behind bars.

Sandusky faces a maximum of 442 years in prison.
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so glad they are giving the pervert a warm welcome in jail.

Perfect!! Thanks, inmates, for giving this child molester the welcome he deserved!!! (and...keep it up!!!)

Yes, , inmates! Now that he has been properly 'd , give him a dose of the medicine he was so anxious to give those kids...

Newly released emails indicate Joe Paterno demanded to handle scandalous issues internally

Joe Paterno’s power may have reached well beyond football, and newly released emails obtained by CNN indicate that the late head football coach for Penn State University demanded to handle scandalous and illegal issues internally.

Penn State hired former FBI Director Louis Freeh to conduct an investigation into the sex abuse and the alleged cover-up that happened at the school.

Freeh’s investigation has unearthed new emails that allegedly demonstrate the power and control Paterno wielded in State College, Pennsylvania.

In a 2005 e-mail from Vicky Triponey, then-vice president of student affairs in charge of disciplining students, to other Penn State administrators including then-Athletic Director Tim Curley, she criticizes Paterno for giving preferential treatment to his players.

"Coach Paterno would rather we NOT inform the public when a football player is found responsible for committing a serious violation of the law and/or our student code -- despite any moral or legal obligation to do so," writes Triponey.

In the same e-mail, Triponey refers to the pressure her office received from coaches and others. "I must insist that the efforts to put pressure on (Student Affairs) and try to influence our decisions... simply MUST STOP," she writes.

Curley later replies acknowledging that Triponey's opinion about her conversation with Paterno was correct.

Triponey replies to Curley saying, "I know you are caught in the middle of a very difficult situation."

In a later e-mail to then-Penn State President Graham Spanier, Triponey doesn’t hold back. "I am very troubled by the manipulative, disrespectful, uncivil and abusive behavior of our football coach," she writes.

According to a CNN source with information about the investigation, Triponey told Freeh investigators that she resigned from the school after an incident in 2007, in which more than a dozen players crashed an off-campus party and started a violent fight.

During the incident in 2007, it seems Paterno sent an e-mail though his assistant to Spanier saying, "I want to make sure everyone understands that the discipline of the players involved will be handled by me as soon as I am comfortable that I know all the facts."

Paterno’s attorneys say their client didn’t have a personal email account, but the emails found by Freeh's group indicate his assistants sent emails for him.

According to the source, after Triponey attempted to discipline the players involved as she would other students, she was allegedly harassed both online and at her home. Someone allegedly put a “for sale” sign in her front lawn.

The source also says Spanier suggested she reconsider her future employment at the school, and she resigned.

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Victim #2 Comes Forward!



HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) -- For months, the identity of the boy who was sexually assaulted in the locker-room showers by Jerry Sandusky was one of the biggest mysteries of the Penn State scandal. Now, for the first time, a man has come forward publicly to claim he was that boy, and is threatening to sue the university.

The man's lawyers said Thursday they have done an extensive investigation and gathered ''overwhelming evidence'' on details of the abuse by Sandusky, the former assistant football coach convicted of using his position at Penn State and as head of a youth charity to molest boys over a period of 15 years.

Jurors convicted Sandusky last month of offenses related to so-called Victim 2 largely on the testimony of Mike McQueary, who was a team graduate assistant at the time and described seeing the attack.

''Our client has to live the rest of his life not only dealing with the effects of Sandusky's childhood sexual abuse, but also with the knowledge that many powerful adults, including those at the highest levels of Penn State, put their own interests and the interests of a child predator above their legal obligations to protect him,'' the lawyers said in a news release.

They did not name their client, and The Associated Press generally does not identify victims of sex crimes without their consent.

The university said it was taking the case seriously but would not comment on pending litigation.

University President Rodney Erickson and the board of trustees, a school spokesman said, ''have publicly emphasized that their goal is to find solutions that rest on the principle of justice for the victims.''

The statement from the man's attorneys said Victim 2 suffered ''extensive sexual abuse over many years both before and after the 2001 incident Michael McQueary witnessed.''

McQueary testified in December at a hearing that he had seen Sandusky and a boy, both naked, in a team shower after hearing skin-on-skin slapping sounds.

''I would have described that it was extremely sexual and I thought that some kind of intercourse was going on,'' McQueary said.

McQueary reported the abuse to school officials, including Paterno, but none of them told police. In a recent report conducted by former FBI Director Louis Freeh and commissioned by Penn State, the investigators excoriated Paterno and the other administrators for not attempting to identify Victim 2, saying it showed ''a striking lack of empathy.''

Trustees fired Paterno, who has since died, because he failed to do more about claims against Sandusky, and the scathing independent review said several top school officials looked the other way because they were afraid of bad publicity. The NCAA has vacated 112 Penn State wins.

In a pair of voicemails recorded last year, released with the statement and posted online by the lawyers, a voice that's purportedly Sandusky's expresses his love and says he wants to express his feelings ''up front.''

The voicemails are dated Sept. 12 and Sept. 19, less than two months before the former Penn State coach was arrested on child sex abuse charges. Sandusky was convicted in June of 45 sex abuse counts and awaits sentencing.

The second voicemail asks whether Victim 2 would like to attend Penn State's next game.

Sandusky left ''numerous'' voicemails for their client that fall, the attorneys said.

Before the trial, defense attorney Joe Amendola said he had met with a man he believed he might be Victim 2 and the man told him he had not been abused by Sandusky. Amendola said he was not convinced and did not intend to subpoena him, but also said Sandusky himself was insistent they had the right person.

The statement from Victim 2's lawyers leaves many questions unanswered, including whether he had been in contact with prosecutors before or during the trial, whether he remembers McQueary, and whether he is the same person who met with Amendola.

''Jerry Sandusky's abuse of Victim 2 and other children is a direct result of a conspiracy to conceal Sandusky's conduct and the decisions by top Penn State officials that facilitated and enabled his access to victims,'' the statement read. ''We intend to file a civil lawsuit against Penn State University and others and to hold them accountable for the egregious and reckless conduct that facilitated the horrific abuse our client suffered.''

The statement did not say when the lawsuit would be filed or contain details on what redress the plaintiff is seeking. The lawyers said they would not have further comment, and messages left for their spokesman were not immediately returned.

Several messages seeking comment from Amendola and Sandusky's other lawyer, Karl Rominger, were not immediately returned.

Prosecutors had said on several occasions they did not know the identity of the boy, and they offered no reaction to the lawyers' announcement Thursday.

''We can't comment, given both our ongoing criminal prosecutions and our ongoing investigation,'' said Nils Frederiksen, spokesman for the attorney general's office.

The attorneys who released the statement include several based in Philadelphia and in State College, home to Penn State's main campus - where the shower assault took place.

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The report said the university seemed more concerned about avoiding "bad publicity" than assisting victims

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Key quotes from Penn State child sex abuse …

(Reuters) - Penn State leaders covered up assistant football coach Jerry … Full Story »Key quotes from Penn State child sex abuse report

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Inquiry: Penn St. officials concealed sex abuse

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Wow Lilone .

The statement from the man's attorneys said Victim 2 suffered ''extensive sexual abuse over many years both before and after the 2001 incident Michael McQueary witnessed.''

I hope he does sue everyone he can!!!

HARRISBURG, Pa. — Jerry Sandusky will walk into state prison with little more than a watch and wedding band. He'll be able to work a 30-hour week to make a few dollars. He'll be able to watch Penn State football, but not violent movies.

If the former Penn State defensive coach is sentenced Tuesday to a long state prison term, he will find himself far removed from the comfortable suburban life he once led, placed under the many rules and regulations of the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections.

Even Sandusky's own attorney believes that whatever sentence he gets, at age 68 Sandusky will likely live out his days inside a state prison. Prison officials, written policies and former offenders provided a detailed look to The Associated Press about the regimented life behind bars that Sandusky faces.

Sandusky has been housed in isolation inside the Centre County Correctional Facility in Bellefonte since his conviction in June on 45 counts of child sexual abuse, and has spent his days reading and writing, preparing a statement for sentencing, and working out twice a day, defense attorney Joe Amendola said.

"Jerry is a very likable guy – he gets along with everybody," Amendola said last week, as he worked with Sandusky to help get his affairs in order, including a power of attorney and updated will. "He's a model inmate. He doesn't cause problems, he's sociable, he's pleasant."

Assuming Judge John Cleland gives him at least two years – the minimum threshold for a state prison sentence – Sandusky's first stop will be the Camp Hill state prison near Harrisburg, where all male inmates undergo a couple weeks of testing to determine such things as mental and physical health, education level and any treatment needs.

Prison officials will assign him a security level risk and decide which "home prison" to send him to.

Although Sandusky's home in the Lemont area of State College is only a couple miles from Rockview state prison, there is no way to predict where he will end up.

Older inmates sometimes end up at Laurel Highlands, which can better treat more severe medical problems, or Waymart, a comparatively lower-security prison in the state's northeastern corner.

The roughly 6,800 sex offenders are scattered throughout the prison system, which has no special units for them. Treatment is available for sex offenders, and those who hope to be paroled have to participate.

"My guess is he'll wind up in a minimum-security facility, and probably a facility for nonviolent people," Amendola said.

A convicted sex offender who spent 10 years in prison, and who works with other released sex offenders through the Pennsylvania Prison Society, said Sandusky won't be able to keep a low profile.

"You can have some control over how obscure you are as a prisoner," said the 52-year-old man from the Philadelphia suburbs, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the stigma attached to sex offenses. "You can either make yourself standout, or you can stay closer to the woodwork. There's no hiding that man."

The state will provide him with clothes, shoes and bedding, and the first set of toiletries. He'll be able to bring a wedding ring without gemstones, a basic watch worth $50 or less, eyeglasses and dentures. Sandusky uses a machine for sleep apnea and takes medications.

State prison menus rotate monthly, and two of the three daily meals are hot. Exercise rules vary, but inmates generally spend an hour or more a day in the yard, which might entail walking, playing ball or lifting weights. If he's at a prison that allows baseball or softball, the bat has to be tethered and secured to the backstop. In the kitchen, knives also are tethered.

Inmates can buy a television with a 13-inch screen for their cells, at a cost of about $275, with prison-designed programming of about 15 channels that costs some $15 a month. The channels include the networks but no R-rated movies or shows with a lot of violence.

He'll be able to watch college football, including Penn State, when the games are broadcast on ESPN or another major network.

"A lot of guys live for it," said man who works with released sex offenders. "Football season is huge."

Sandusky, a regular attendee at a Methodist church in State College, will be able to go to religious services.

There's also a shared television in the day room, a common area where inmates congregate when not confined to their cells. The guards usually decide what channel to have it on. Cards are popular, as are dominoes and board games.

If he has a musical bent, Sandusky will have a list of approved instruments to choose from for purchase.

Sandusky, who has a master's degree, will be encouraged to work, and most inmates do, although it's not technically mandatory. An inmate's first job is often in the kitchen or doing janitorial work, while more coveted occupations include maintenance, landscaping, clerical work or tutoring.

The pay barely covers the cable bill: 19 to 51 cents an hour, with a 30-hour work week. Some of that money may go to pay fines or costs, or toward the $10 copay for a doctor visit.

If people on the outside put money on his account, it also can be deducted to pay any fines and costs.

For those who can afford it, the commissary sells snacks, cigarettes and toiletries. He'll be able to have books and magazines sent to him inside prison, but if personal property starts to pile up, officials will direct him to box it up and send them home.

Most Pennsylvania prison cells are designed for two people, but it's possible he could end up in his own cell or in a small dormitory.

Visiting rules vary by institution, but all visits last at least an hour, and facilities generally allow two or three visits per week, with five to eight visitors allowed at once. Inmates can have up to 40 people on their visiting list.

There's another possibility for Sandusky, said Bill DiMascio, executive director of the prison society: they could swap him for an inmate in another state.

"They might even put him in a federal prison," DiMascio said. "They have some other options."

If Sandusky writes a book, state law will prevent him from making any money off of it.
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I'd be surprised if he didn't end up in a cushy federal prison like the one Martha Stewart was in.

In Session
22 minutes ago
In a few minutes our Jean Casarez is bringing you a preview of Jerry Sandusky's sentencing happening tomorrow. There will also be a hearing to determine if he's a violent sexual predator.

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BELLEFONTE, Pa. — Defiant and unrepentant, Jerry Sandusky accused his victims of lodging "false allegations" against him in a taped jailhouse statement aired by a radio station late Monday, one day before he was to be sentenced on 45 counts of child sexual abuse.

The former Penn State University assistant football coach blamed his conviction on a conspiracy by aggressive investigators, lying accusers and the media.

His three-minute statement was aired by Penn State's student-run radio station and posted on the station's website.

"They can take away my life. They can make me out as a monster. They can treat me as a monster, but they can't take away my heart," he said. "In my heart, I know I did not do these alleged disgusting acts."

Sandusky, 68, awaits sentencing in the Centre County Jail, where he is in protective custody. His attorneys, Joe Amendola and Karl Rominger, confirmed to the Centre Daily Times that the statement was Sandusky's, but Amendola said they didn't know how the radio station obtained it.

The statement coincided with signals from Sandusky's defense team that it had abandoned plans to plead for leniency and had shifted focus to appealing his June conviction.

"The bottom line is this," Amendola said, emerging Monday from a conference with Judge John M. Cleland. "How can he be remorseful if he maintains his innocence?"

Under state sentencing guidelines, Cleland could impose anywhere from 10 years to more than 400 years.

Lead prosecutor Joseph E. McGettigan III said Monday that as many as six of the 10 victims would take the stand Tuesday in hopes of persuading Cleland that Sandusky should get the harshest punishment possible.

Sandusky has denied the charges since his November 2011 arrest and continues to regret not testifying in his own defense, his attorneys said.

He has conceded he often showered with boys after workouts but suggested that their stories of abuse originated with one publicity-hungry accuser whose version of events shaded the testimony of the others.

"A young man who is dramatic and a veteran accuser and always sought attention started everything," he said in the taped statement. "He was joined by a well-orchestrated effort of the media, investigators, the system, Penn State, psychologists, civil attorneys and other accusers."

The scandal cost legendary football coach Joe Paterno his job, along with that of university President Graham Spanier. Two other university officials are charged with failing to report the suspected abuse and with perjury related to their testimony before a grand jury.

In addition, the NCAA imposed stiff penalties on Penn State's football team, including a four-year ban on postseason play. The NCAA also vacated 111 wins from 1998 to 2011, meaning Paterno no longer has the most coaching victories in major college football.

Paterno, 85, died of cancer within months of his dismissal. In July, Penn State removed a Paterno statue that had stood outside the football stadium.
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A privacy tunnel is erected at the county courthouse in Bellefonte, Pa. Former Penn State assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky is due to be sentenced on 45 counts of child sexual abuse. (Matt Rourke, Associated Press / October 9, 2012)

Jerry Sandusky didn't take the stand during his child sex-abuse trial this summer, but Tuesday at his sentencing he will declare that he is innocent despite the 45 verdicts finding him guilty, his lawyer said today, as Sandusky made the same claim in a new audio recording.

"They can take away my life, they can make me out as a monster, they can treat me as a monster, but they can't take away my heart," Sandusky said on the recording first played today on a Penn State student radio station. "In my heart, I know I did not do these alleged, disgusting acts. My wife has been my only sex partner and that was after marriage. Our love continues."

Sandusky, who made the recording in jail, pointed an accusing finger at his victims, claiming he was trying to help them through his charity only to see them join what he suggested was a conspiracy against him.

"A young man who was dramatic, a veteran accuser, and always sought attention, started everything," Sandusky said. "He was joined by a well-orchestrated effort of the media, investigators, the system, Penn State, psychologists, civil attorneys and other accusers. They won. I've wondered what they really won: Attention, financial gain, prestige ... will all be temporary. Before you blame me, as others have, look at everything and everybody."

Sandusky's denial of guilt drew an angry response from Thomas Kline, the attorney for one of his victims, who called the statement, "a lashing out on the eve on his sentencing."

"There is no chance that Mr. Sandusky was innocent," Kline said. "It is preposterous to suggest that 10 separate victims, their families, their parents, their lawyers, the prosecutors, and the press and everyone else conspired to somehow convict Mr. Sandusky."

The former Penn State defensive coordinator faces anywhere from 10 years to more than 400 years in prison when Judge John Clelands hands down his sentence at the end of Tuesday's hearing. At age 68, any significant sentence could mean life in prison for Sandusky.

Before Cleland decides on prison time, however, Sandusky and his victims will both have the opportunity to make statements.

Kline, an attorney for "Victim 5," told ABC News that his client will take the stand and testify "as to the harm that Mr. Sandusky caused to him."

"It's just a tragedy," Kline said, "compounded by the fact that we have a man that was a convicted who won't come forward and show any contrition and any remorse."

He expected Sandusky, lacking remorse, would get tantamount to a life sentence.

Victim 5, now 22, reported being approached from behind by Sandusky in the shower in the Penn State locker rooms in 2001. Sandusky lifted the boy up to the shower head and held him around his stomach, though Victim 5 said during the trial he didn't remember any sexual abuse.

According to defense attorney Joe Amendola, Sandusky so regretted not taking the stand during his trial that he is anxious to speak directly to the court Tuesday.

"It's as certain as certain can be" that Sandusky will declare his innocence, Amendola told the Associated Press.

Sandusky's family members have also written letters to the judge on his behalf, Amendola said. Sandusky's wife Dottie, who has insisted on his innocence throughout the trial, will be present in the courtroom, Amendola said.

The statements from both Sandusky and the victims will follow a 9 a.m. hearing to determine whether Sandusky will be classified a sexually violent predator. If he is found to be sexually violent, he will be mandated to register as a sex offender if ever released from prison.

After Cleland decides Sandusky's status as a sexual predator and hears the testimony from both sides, he will decide on a sentence. He could choose to sentence Sandusky to as few as 10 years in prison if he orders concurrent prison time, in which Sandusky would serve the sentence for each count at the same time.

But if Cleland instead chooses to sentence him to consecutive terms, Sandusky could face more than 400 years in prison.

Sandusky will undergo extensive evaluations after sentencing, including his medical and mental health needs, health care, security level, and program needs, according to the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections.

Sandusky's security will likely be an issue as authorities decide where to place him in the state prison population, as his case could make him a target for other inmates.

There are 25 prisons for men in Pennsylvania that Sandusky could be sent to, none of which have a special housing unit or facility for sex offenders, the department said.
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Sandusky makes me want to . He acts like HE is the VICTIM in all of this! How dare he say that those poor abused young men got up and lied on the stand! I can hardly wait to see what Sandusky says to the court but I'll bets it's an arrogant, look what they've done to me, blah, blah, blah.
I hope he gets the 400 years!
MOO.

The former Penn State assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky was sentenced Tuesday morning to 30 to 60 years in prison for sexually abusing young boys, crimes that roiled the university community and shook one of major college football’s most prominent programs.

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Jerry Sandusky was sentenced Tuesday morning to 30-60 years in prison for molesting 10 boys over a period of 15 years while he was a football coach at Penn State.

The judge said that he would serve no less than 30 years in prison and no more than 60 years.

Sandusky, 68, who proclaimed his innocence in an audio statement that aired Monday night on Penn State's student radio station, could have faced as much as 400 years in jail after being convicted on 45 counts, NBC reports.

A number of Sandusky's accusers were set to give statements to Judge John Cleland before the sentencing, describing the effects of the sexual abuse they suffered as juveniles.

In a lengthy statement Monday, Sandusky denied any wrongdoing and claimed in fact that he was the victim – of a vast conspiracy involving "the media, investigators, the system, Penn State, psychologists, civil attorneys and other accusers." He proclaimed his innocence again in court Tuesday morning, saying, "I did not do these disgusting acts," according to CNN.

"They could take away my life, they could make me out as a monster, they could treat me as a monster, but they can't take away my heart," he said Monday. "In my heart, I know I did not do these alleged disgusting acts. My wife has been my only sex partner. That was after marriage. Our love continues."

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A Pennsylvania judge sentenced an unremorseful former Penn State football coach Jerry Sandusky to 30-60 years in prison today for the sexual abuse of 10 boys after tearful testimony from his victims.

"I'm not going to sentence you to centuries," Judge John Cleland said at the sentencing hearing. "It makes no sense for a 68-year-old man. This sentence will put you in prison for the rest of your life."

Sandusky, 68, would be 98 at his earliest possible release date. Cleland also determined that Sandusky would be classified as a sexually violent predator, mandating that he register as a sex offender if he is ever released from prison.

"The ultimate tragedy of this situation is that... you have continued to conceal the very vices that have led to your downfall," Cleland said before handing down the sentence. "In my view that makes you dangerous. You abused the trust of those who trusted you. These are not crimes against strangers, they are much worse.

"The crime is not only what you did to their bodies, but your assault to the safety and well-being of the community in which we all live."

Sandusky will now undergo extensive evaluations, including his medical and mental health needs, health care, security level, and program needs, according to the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections.

Sandusky's security will likely be an issue as authorities decide where to place him in the state prison population, as his case could make him a target for other inmates.

There are 25 prisons for men in Pennsylvania that Sandusky could be sent to, none of which have a special housing unit or facility for sex offenders, the department said.

The sentence was handed down by Judge John Cleland after tearful testimony from both Sandusky and his victims.

Sandusky's victims recounted the horror inflicted on them by the former Penn State football defensive coordinator, including one victim's mother who said her son had twice attempted suicide because of the abuse.

Sandusky also spoke at the sentencing, denying that he ever engaged in "disgusting acts" and remembering instead fun water balloon fights and throwing kids in the air in pools.

"Jerry Sandusky lured me into a Penn State sauna and then a shower and then forcibly had me touch him," said the man identified as Victim 5. "I am troubled with flashbacks of his naked body. I continue to be haunted by the incident. (I have) anxiety, PTSD, nightmares, and embarrassment and guilt."

"For four years, I believed you were helping my son but instead you were molesting him. He was losing weight, couldn't sleep. I blame myself and still do," the mother of Victim 9 wrote in a statement. "I have had to endure two attempts from my son on his own life, all because of you and what you did to my son."

The statements came shortly ahead of Sandusky's own tearful statement to the court, in which he described his time in jail, staring at cement walls, imagining the fun times he spent with the children of his charity, The Second Mile, through which he met his victims.

"A chill goes up my spine and my eyes fill up again. It doesn't matter what you look at, it's what you see. When I look at those walls again, I see light, visits from family and friends," he said on the stand, clad in a red jumpsuit and looking noticeably thinner and more gaunt than during his trial. I see me throwing hundreds of kids in the air, water balloon battles, a dog licking children's faces."

Sandusky said in his statement that he has spent his time in jail meditating, writing, exercising, and reading books about persecution and struggle. He said he has faced "outbursts by troubled inmates" and "special inmates who have smiled at me."

"Somehow, some way, something good will come out of this. These are people I cared about, still do. I used to think of ways to praise them, to help them have fun."

"To my loved ones I want to say, the most difficult part is the pain of separation. Some of the labeling hurts but they don't compare to the pain of their absence," he said.

Sandusky's victims said they were outraged at Sandusky's continued claims of innocence.

"You can chose to be in denial about everything you have done, (but) you are only fooling yourself," said the man identified as Victim 6. "It is time to stop coming up with excuses for your behavior. If you admit your guilt to God, he will forgive you. If you don't, you won't be able to receive forgiveness."

"You took something from him that can never be replaced," the statement from Victim 9's mother read. "Sorry will never be enough. There is no punishment sufficient for you. When you admit your wrongdoing, maybe, maybe you will be forgiven. "

The victims who testified at Sandusky's June trial said that he touched them and forced them to engage in sex acts at the Penn State locker room showers and in his home.

The Penn State University president, Graham Spanier, also lost his job, and the athletic director and vice president for finance at the college were charged with perjury and failure to report child abuse for their knowledge of the crimes.

Head coach Joe Paterno died in January, saying that he wished he had done more with his knowledge of the crimes, while Spanier, Curley, and Schultz have maintained their innocence.

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Sandusky may you rot in hell for what you did to innocent little boys.

In the wake of his sentencing today, Jerry Sandusky starts a 30-day assessment process at Camp Hill prison that will decide his ultimate placement among the state's 27 prisons.

Sue Bensinger, deputy press secretary for the Department of Corrections, said Sandusky is being remanded to Camp Hill to undergo the same diagnostic and classification process as any other prisoner.

"An inmate is an inmate," she said.

All prisoners undergo a month of physical and psychological tests, as well as a review of their criminal, educational and vocational history.

The aim is to create a safe, suitable plan for each one's housing and treatment, Bensinger said.

"The reason for the assessment is to get the inmate going to adequate housing and treatment programs," Bensinger said.

The evaluation period is two weeks to a month, but could take longer if the inmate is coming and going to court hearings.

Asked if age is a factor in Sandusky's placement, Bensinger would only speak in general.

"All those factors come into play, but health conditions weigh more heavily than age," she said. Sandusky is 68 years old and received a sentence of 30 to 60 years behind bars.

She said one prison - Laurel Highlands Correctional Facility in Somerset County - generally takes offenders who are chronically ill for end-stage diseases, and require a highly-staffed medical facility.

"All inmates would be accessed when they come in for chronic illness," she said. It is not known if Sandusky has any such condition.

In deference to their age and creaky knees, some inmates are housed in a cell on the first-floor tier. All inmates are given a roommate, she said.

"There is no special treatment," she said.

As far as security concerns, Bensinger said all inmates are looked at with consideration for their safety, and that of the population as a whole.

Bensinger said there will be no special limitations on Sandusky - he will get visitors, write and receive letters and have access to the phone and TV, just as others do.

He would only receive special restrictions if he disobeys the rules.

"I hate to say it, but an inmate is an inmate," said Bensinger. "Unless they change their behavior and get into trouble, they go by the same guidelines as everyone.

"It's easier when dealing with a prison population. You know when you're coming from, and it makes everyone's life easier."

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Jerry Sandusky blames a "well-orchestrated effort" by accusers, the media, investigators, Penn State and attorneys for his fate in an audio tape released Monday afternoon, the day before he's scheduled to be sentenced for sexual abuse.

In an audio tape obtained by student radio station Penn State ComRadio, Sandusky talks about the trial and the victims, his wife and The Second Mile."We will fight for another chance. We have given many second chances, and now we'll ask for one," he says, in the statement, which lasts close to 4 minutes.

His attorneys Joe Amendola and Karl Rominger confirmed that the statement is Sandusky's, but Amendola said they don't know how ComRadio got it.

Here is the full statement.

"I'm responding to the worst loss of my life. First, I looked at myself. Over and over, I asked why? Why didn't we have a fair opportunity to prepare for trial? Why have so many people suffered as a result of false allegations? What's the purpose?

"Maybe it will help others, some vulnerable children who could be abused might not be as a result of all the publicity. That would be nice, but I'm not sure about it.

"I would cherish the opportunity to become a candle for others, as they have been a light for me. They could take away my life, they could make me out as a monster, they could treat me as a monster, but they can't take away my heart. In my heart, I know I did not do these alleged disgusting acts.

"My wife has been my only sex partner, and that was after marriage. Our love continues. A young man who was dramatic, a veteran accuser, and always sought attention, started everything. He was joined by a well-orchestrated effort of the media, investigators, the system, Penn State, psychologists, civil attorneys and other accusers. They won.

"I've wondered what they really won: attention, financial gain, prestige, will all be temporary. Before you blame me, as others have, look at everything and everybody. Look at the preparation for the trial and the trial. Compare it to others. Think about what happened. Why and who made it happen? Evaluate the accusers and their families. Realize they didn't come out of isolation. The accusers were products of many more people and experiences than me. Look at their confidants and their honesty. Think about how easy it was for them to turn on me given the information, attention and potential perks.

"I never labeled or put down them or their families. I tried and I cared, then asked for the same. Please realize all came to The Second Mile because of issues. Some of those may remain. We will continue to fight. We didn't lose the proven facts, evidence, accurate locations and times. Anything can be said. We lost to speculation and stories that were influenced by people who wanted to convict me. We must fight unfairness and consistency and dishonesty.

"People need to be portrayed for who they really are. We've not been complainers. When we couldn't have kids, we adopted. When we didn't have time to prepare for a trial, we still gave it our best. We will fight for another chance. We have given many second chances, and now we'll ask for one. It will take more than our effort. Justice will have to be more than just a word, fairness be more than just a dream. It will take others. Somebody apolitical with the courage to listen, to think about the unfairness, to have the guts to stand up and take the road less traveled. I ask for the strength to handle everything and the willingness to surrender only to God, regardless of the outcome."

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I can't work up any sympathy at all for Sandusky who "will be a target for other inmates" - what a shame (not) if he is treated how he treated those innocent boys all his life.

Sam, I agree so much. My ideal circumstances for him would be when he enters prison that the other inmates are already lined..... just sayin'.......

Sam

Former Penn State football coach Jerry Sandusky, just sentenced to what amounts to life imprisonment in a child sex abuse scandal, has now lost his state pension, worth nearly $59,000 per year, a state document revealed on Wednesday.

The decision by the State Employees Retirement System to revoke his $4,908 monthly pension was unveiled in a letter to Sandusky, 68, dated October 9, the same day he was sentenced in Pennsylvania Common Pleas Court to prison for 30 to 60 years for molesting children.

The move by SERS, a state retirement plan for public employees, means Sandusky loses his entire pension, including a sum to his wife Dottie when he dies, according to the letter first published by the Centre Daily Times of State College, Pennsylvania, where Penn State, a public university, is located.

Sandusky began working for Penn State's football program under the late and legendary coach Joe Paterno in 1969.

Sandusky is credited with creating, during the 1980s and '90s, the fearsome defensive squads that earned the school its reputation as Linebacker U.

But his reputation crumbled when the Pennsylvania Attorney General's office released a grand jury report in November 2011 that resulted in criminal charges against him for sexually abusing 10 boys over 15 years.

Sandusky was convicted in June on 45 counts of sex abuse, and sentenced on Tuesday to spend, in all likelihood, the rest of his life behind bars.

As the scandal unfolded in November 2011, Paterno and university president Graham Spanier were fired. Paterno, 85, died in January of lung cancer.

Penn State pension payments to Paterno's widow, Sue, are calculated to top $13 million.

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Jerry Sandusky's wife stood by her husband as a "man of very high morals" and trashed their adopted son for saying that he too was sexually abused by his father in a letter to the judge deciding her husband's fate.
"People need to know what kind of person he is," wrote Dorothy "Dottie" Sandusky of son Matt, 33, in the document, sent two weeks after her husband's conviction and obtained by The Philadelphia Inquirer this week.
The letter, dated July 9, characterizes Matt Sandusky as a mentally ill liar and thief and asks Judge John M. Cleland to discount her youngest son's allegations in determining a sentence for her husband.
It was one of several similar missives Cleland considered before sentencing the former Pennsylvania State University assistant football coach Tuesday to 30 to 60 years in prison for the serial sexual abuse of 10 adolescent boys.
And while jurors did not learn of Matt Sandusky's accusations until after delivering their verdict in June and his alleged abuse played no part in his father's sentence this week, the letter penned by his mother lays bare the painful family divisions.
"They said the same kinds of things about all of Jerry Sandusky's victims," said attorney Matt Casey, one of a team of lawyers that represents Matt Sandusky and several other accusers of the former coach. "It's part and parcel of this whole tragedy that these young men have been continually victimized by their abuser."
Dorothy and Jerry Sandusky have not spoken to their youngest son since he publicly accused his father of sexual abuse in the middle of his trial, the former coach's lawyers said this week. Matt Sandusky did not attend the sentencing Tuesday but his attorneys said he still plans to sue his adoptive father in civil court.
Calls placed to both Matt and Dorothy Sandusky went unreturned Wednesday.
In her letter, Dorothy Sandusky described her son's shift from onetime ally to his father's accuser as just one in a decades-long series of betrayals from the man she and her husband welcomed into their home as a troubled 17-year-old.
"We have forgiven him many times for all he has done to our family, thinking that he was changing his life," she wrote. "But he would always go back to stealing and lies."
During the run-up to his father's trial, Matt, one of the Sandusky family's six adopted children, had denied on several occasions that he had ever been abused, and he originally agreed to testify for the former coach's defense.
But hours after jurors began deliberating Jerry Sandusky's fate, the 33-year-old's attorneys dropped a bombshell, publicly disclosing that their client had turned state's witness and was now alleging his own abuse.
Though he never testified at trial, Matt Sandusky explained his motivation in a taped interview with investigators leaked to the news media in June.
"I came forward for different reasons," he said. "I mean, for my family, so that they can really have closure and see what the truth actually is."
But which family he was referring to remains unclear.
Matt Sandusky was born Matt Heichel, and first met Jerry Sandusky as an 8-year-old foster child with a troubled home life. He moved into the former coach's home nine years later and was formally adopted at the age of 18. He has not yet stated publicly when his adoptive father allegedly began to sexually abuse him.
Matt Sandusky's biological mother, Debra Long, suspected something suspicious early on in the relationship.
Jerry Sandusky took an interest in her son the same way many of the former coach's other accusers would later describe. They met at The Second Mile, the charity from which the elder Sandusky culled all of his victims. They attended football games and worked out together.
"I would sit back and watch when Jerry would show up, how excited Matt was," Long told ABC News in an interview last November. "And then, as time went on, I would watch the same kid hide behind the bedroom door and say, 'Mom, tell him I'm not home.' "
Matt moved in with the Sanduskys after burning down a barn in 1995. But his trouble seemed to grow worse there, according to his interview with investigators.
He ran away from the couple a year later. At one point, police responded to the house to investigate him for stealing. And about four months after moving in, he attempted suicide.
In his interview with investigators this summer, Matt Sandusky characterized his acting out as a cry for help during a period of sustained abuse.
"It just became very uncomfortable," he said on the recording. "With the showering, with the hugging, with the rubbing, with the - just talking to me. The way he spoke ... Anything, any time we were alone."
Dorothy Sandusky offered another explanation for her son's behavior in her letter to Cleland: "He has been diagnosed with bipolar, but he refuses to take his medicine."
Her son's lawyer declined to discuss Wednesday whether Matt Sandusky has been diagnosed with a mental illness.
Whatever the cause, his decision to publicly accuse his father dealt the former coach's defense a devastating blow at trial, his attorneys have said.
Court transcripts of the proceeding reveal an intense back and forth in the judge's chambers once Matt Sandusky's cooperation with prosecutors was revealed.
Jerry Sandusky planned to testify in his own defense. His attorneys feared prosecutors could call his son as a rebuttal witness. Ultimately, they decided to keep the former coach off the stand.
"He always wanted to tell people his side of the allegations," defense lawyer Joseph Amendola is quoted as saying in the transcript. "However, the potential evidence, whether true or not, was so devastating."
Writing to Cleland Sept. 27, Jerry Sandusky singled out his decision not to testify as the chief factor he believes lost him his case. And while he acknowledged his son's accusations played into that choice, the former coach reserved most of the blame himself.
"Our son changed our plans when he switched sides," Sandusky wrote. "I was supposed to be David but failed to pick up the slingshot. Goliath won, and I must deal with the outcome."
His wife's feelings, however, remain more conflicted.
"We still love him and want the best for him," she wrote of her son. "But because of his actions we cannot express this to him."

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Bellefonte, Pennsylvania (CNN) -- When all was said and done, Jerry and Dottie Sandusky did not ask the judge for mercy. They did not try to extol Jerry's virtues, list good deeds or express regret. Instead, they depicted the boys he sexually assaulted as ungrateful and called them liars.
They blamed the young men -- including their own adopted son, Matt, who now claims he, too, was molested -- for their downfall.
In letters to the judge who would sentence the former coach, the Sanduskys portrayed themselves as virtuous victims of a vast conspiracy. They blamed powerful, image-conscious forces at Penn State University, lying cops, ambitious prosecutors and a scandal-hungry news media.
The couple's letters were mentioned in court on Tuesday but not read aloud. Judge John Cleland and the Centre County courts made them public, and CNN obtained copies.
In them, Jerry Sandusky expressed little sympathy for the 10 boys he was convicted of molesting. As he wrote about their families, he tried to shift the blame, pointing out that the boys came from unstable homes.
"Nobody mentioned the impact of abandonment, neglect, abuse, insecurity and conflicting messages that the biological parents might have had in this," he wrote. He said nothing about the damaged lives and institutions his molestation case left in its wake.
Read the letters (.PDF)
Instead, both Sanduskys wrote that the justice system let them down.
Just as letters to one of the boys he was accused of molesting helped secure his conviction, the letters to the judge all but guaranteed a maximum punishment, legal observers say.
Cleland, who presided over the trial and sentenced Sandusky on Tuesday to 30 to 60 years in prison, noted that others wrote letters as well. But he indicated that he considered only the Sanduskys' letters in handing down a sentence that, for a 68-year-old man, is likely to be a life prison term.

"Sentencing is a time to ask for mercy, not to attack others," said Laurie Levenson, a former federal prosecutor who teaches legal ethics at Loyola Law School. "In my experience, judges really hate letters that try to shift the blame to others or which belittle the victims or the court."
B.J. Bernstein, an Atlanta attorney who comments on legal matters for CNN, agreed that Sandusky didn't do himself any favors.
"The old adage 'if you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all' applies to sentencing statements," Bernstein said. "It is awkward when you deny you are culpable and a jury says otherwise. For appellate purposes Sandusky was never going to accept responsibility or admit doing something wrong, but lashing out at everyone so strongly was irrational and certainly could not have been done to persuade the judge."
She added that Sandusky might have thought he was still playing to his Penn State fan base, but it backfired.
"Between Jerry and Dottie's vicious protestations of innocence," Bernstein said, "all I can think is the victims -- and in particular their son Matt -- should shout back the lyrics from the Eric Clapton song, 'Before you accuse me, take a look at yourself.'"
Sandusky's son comes forward as victim
Jerry Sandusky bashed victims and laid out the conspiracy theory in a pre-recorded interview leaked to a campus radio station on the eve of his sentencing. He hinted at it again when he spoke in court on Tuesday, after being warned by his lawyers to avoid criticizing his victims or the justice system.
His performances on air and in the courtroom were widely derided by prosecutors, legal analysts and commentators as narcissistic, self-absorbed and self-defeating.
Jerry Sandusky's letter expanded on the rambling, 15-minute courtroom soliloquy that touched on everything from the writer Henry David Thoreau to "special inmate friends" to wet kisses from dogs. Like that speech, it was part locker room pep talk and part Sunday school inspirational, with a heaping side order of the Frank Sinatra ballad "My Way."
He wrote about life in protective custody, and how it led him to think about all the interests that were being protected as the case unfolded: "The system protected the system, the media, the prosecution, the civil attorneys and the accusers. Everybody protected themselves," he wrote.
"Penn State, with its own system, protected their public image," he continued. "Media protected their jobs and ambitions. Prosecutors protected their jobs and egos. The accusers were protected and provided access to potential financial gain, free attorneys, accolades, psychologists and attention."

"My trust in people, systems and fairness has diminished," he said. "In my heart I know I did not do these disgusting acts. However, I didn't tell the jury. Our son changed our plans when he switched sides."
Matt Sandusky was 18 when he was adopted by the Sanduskys after spending time with them in foster care. The relationship always has been rocky, but it collapsed near the end of Sandusky's trial in June. As the prosecution's case drew to a close, Matt told investigators that Sandusky had molested him, too.
Matt Sandusky, now 33, did not testify for either side, but Jerry Sandusky insists that his adopted son's desertion and potentially damaging testimony kept him from testifying in his own defense.
The Sanduskys spared no one.
"There were so many people involved in the orchestration of this conviction (media, investigators, prosecutors, "the system," Penn State and the accusers.) It was well done. They won!" Jerry Sandusky wrote, as if a tragic court case about molested children was an epic gridiron contest.
"When I thought about how it had transpired, I wondered what they had won," he continued. "I thought of the methods, decisions and allegations. I relived the inconsistencies and dishonest testimonies." He pondered what would happen if the tables were turned.
When the hero falls off the pedestal: The emotion of betrayal
"What would be the outcome if all the accusers and their families who were investigated?" he wrote. "I knew the answer. All their issues would surface. They would no longer be these poor, innocent people as portrayed."
Dottie Sandusky also wrote of her disappointment, saying she has lost faith in the police and the legal system. "To think that they can lie and get by with the lies. The press has been unbelievable. People who have not met us are writing untruths."
Dottie Sandusky's letter is revealing because she has stood silently by her husband in court. She testified at his trial that she never heard or saw anything strange or sexual going on in the basement of their home, where many of the victims say her husband molested them.
In her letter, she unloaded on her adopted son, Matt.
"People need to know what kind of person he is," she wrote. "We have forgiven him many times for all he has done to our family, thinking that he was changing his life, but he would always go back to his stealing and lies. He has been diagnose (sic) Bipolar, but he refuses to take his medicine."
Records from Centre County's probation department and juvenile courts tell part of the story of how Matt H., as he was known, came to the Sanduskys.
Like the boys who testified against Sandusky at the trial, Matt participated in Sandusky's youth mentoring program, The Second Mile. Jerry Sandusky was in Southern California, preparing for the Rose Bowl, when Matt was arrested in 1995. Sandusky called personally and pulled strings to make sure Matt was placed under his care and not sent to juvenile detention.
Opinion: For the victims, it's about more than locking him up
The court documents detail Matt's continuing troubles, including an aspirin overdose in March 1996 that is characterized as a suicide attempt. But he maintained that he wanted to stay in the Sandusky home, writing to the court, "I feel that they have supported me even when I have messed up. They are a loving, caring group of people. They have showed me what a family is really like."
In another instance, Sandusky called police to his house, claiming a burglar was trying to break in. It was Matt, who said he had come to the house for a power tool.
Matt Sandusky now is represented by a law firm in State College that is handling the cases of several other Sandusky molestation victims.
"Matt is extremely disappointed that Dottie and the Sanduskys have decided to smear his character in an attempt to deflect attention from Jerry Sandusky's heinous crimes," his lawyers Justine Andronici and Andrew Shubin said in a written statement to CNN. "Matt has shown tremendous courage and strength. Rather than supporting her son when he made the gut-wrenching decision to come forward and tell the truth about the abuse he suffered at the hands of Jerry Sandusky, Dottie Sandusky has chosen to continue Jerry's strategy of blaming and attacking the victims, thereby perpetuating the abuse."
Dottie Sandusky wrote that her adopted son "has had many run-ins with the law and stolen money and items from our family. We still love him and want the best for him, but because of his actions we cannot express this to him. ..."
Karl Rominger, a lawyer for Sandusky, also did not respond to a request for comment. A spokesman for the State Attorney General's office said prosecutors "stand by" what they said Tuesday about Sandusky's victim and system bashing. Joseph McGettigan described Sandusky's behavior as "banal, self-delusional, completely untethered from reality. It was entirely-self-focused, as if he himself were the victim."
Jerry Sandusky trial: All you need to know about allegations, how case unfolded
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This is the link to the actual letters.

He was known only as Victim 1 in one of the most infamous child sexual abuse cases in history. But this week, Aaron Fisher revealed his identity to the world and, in an exclusive interview with "20/20's" Chris Cuomo, told the story of those he said stood in his way as he struggled to bring now-convicted child predator Jerry Sandusky to justice: officials at his own high school.

"Here I am, beside my mom, crying, telling them and they don't believe me," he said in an interview with Cuomo airing on "20/20" tonight at 10 p.m. ET. "I knew they wouldn't."

Fisher has detailed his struggle to have his allegations against Sandusky, formerly a revered Penn State University football coach, taken seriously in a new book,"Silent No More: Victim 1's Fight for Justice Against Jerry Sandusky," published today.

He was 11 when he met Jerry Sandusky in the summer of 2005. Fisher was selected to attend a summer camp run by Sandusky's charity organization for disadvantaged children, The Second Mile, on Penn State's campus.

Fisher said Sandusky immediately took a special interest in him. He encouraged Fisher's athletic interests, taking him to both college and pro sports events.

"We sat in box seats," said Fisher. "He was just kind of like a giant stuffed teddy bear. He seemed like the all-natural father figure -- something that most kids wished their dads did."

Watch the exclusive interview on "20/20" tonight at 10 p.m. ET.

Young Aaron came from a struggling family and didn't have a father at home. Dawn Daniels, Fisher's mother, recalled the times Sandusky took the boy away for the weekend to give her a break.

"Everybody knew who he was," said Daniels, "He's a great guy. Everybody, even my own father, said he does great things for kids."

Sandusky's reputation had preceded him and put Daniels at ease as far as allowing her son to spend so much time with Sandusky. But according to Fisher, Sandusky slowly turned from a "father figure" into something much darker.

"He'd put his hand on my leg while we were driving," Fisher said, "My family never did that, so it was kind of weird."

By the time Fisher was 12, Sandusky was sexually assaulting him. Fisher said fear, shame and confusion prevented him from seeking help and telling anyone about his tormentor.

"There were so many emotions and thoughts running through my head," he said. "Being a kid, you never know what to do, and you don't know who to tell because you don't know who you can trust."

Fisher said Sandusky began seeking him out at his own high school, Central Mountain High School in Lock Haven, Pa. Sandusky was a volunteer football coach there and would pull him out of class, with school officials' blessing.

Daniels said the school never notified her about all of the classes her son missed because of Sandusky and Fisher said no teacher or administrator ever questioned Sandusky's motives.

It grew to be too much and Fisher said he tried to do everything in his power to stay away from the ex-Penn State coach, sometimes hiding in school bathrooms rather to avoid meeting with Sandusky. But Sandusky only grew more aggressive, Fisher said.

"He once followed my bus home from school," he said. "I took off running but he drove on the opposite side of the street, onto oncoming traffic to catch up with me. I ran up an alley and he went to my house and parked out front."

Daniels said she was alarmed by the hundreds of phone calls Sandusky made to the house. By the time Fisher was 15, he reached a breaking point and finally summoned the courage to tell his mother and the school's principal, Karen Probst, that Sandusky was sexually abusing him.

"Aaron was melting down in the office," Daniels said. "I immediately told them we need to call the police."

But the mother and son say they were shocked by the principal's response.

"They said that Jerry has a heart of gold and that he wouldn't do those type of things," Daniels said "They tell me to go home and think about it."

Daniels did not follow their advice. Instead she says she told Probst that she would be notifying Clinton County Children and Youth Services of the allegations directly.

Daniels and Fisher later learned that Central Mountain High School officials did call CYS, but they say the call only came after the mother and son left the principal's office. School officials are legally mandated to report all allegations of child sex abuse and have said that the allegations were reported immediately.

For Fisher, the initial suggestion that those meant to protect him did not believe his story was crushing.

Clinton County CYS psychologist Michael Gillum was one of the first to handle Fisher's case.

"It was obvious to me immediately that he was upset, that something had, in fact, happened to him," Gillum told "20/20."

Gillum said he was shocked by the claim that Central Mountain's principal, Probst, had told Fisher and Daniels to go home.

When confronted outside the school by "20/20", both Probst and football coach Steve Turchetta -- who pulled Fisher out of his classes for meetings with Sandusky -- declined to answer questions. In grand jury testimony, Turchetta said that he took kids out of class for those meetings even though he developed suspicions about the relationships.

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Much to Fisher's dismay, coming forward with the allegations was only the beginning of a long battle to bring Sandusky to justice. It would take years for an arrest.

"The broken promises, the numbers of state troopers," Fisher said, "and he's not even in jail."

Sandusky was interviewed by CYS but he laughed off the allegations, painting Fisher as a troubled kid, Gillum said.

Meanwhile, the police made Fisher retell his story four times over the course of three years. He was forced to go before two grand juries. Yet still, the attorney general prosecuting the case said authorities needed more victims to charge Sandusky.

To Fisher, it meant his suffering was not enough.

Fisher said every delay in the case caused him to grow increasingly desperate and drove him to contemplate suicide.

"I thought maybe it would be easier to take myself out of the equation," he said. "Let somebody else deal with it."

Finally, in 2011, there was a break in the case. Allegations surfaced from a Penn State coach, Mike McQueary, that he had witnessed Sandusky molesting a boy in a university locker room years earlier.

On Nov. 5, 2011, just before Fisher's 18th birthday, Jerry Sandusky was arrested following an indictment by a grand jury on more than 40 counts of child sexual abuse. In June 2012, Sandusky was tried and convicted on 45 of 48 counts. He was sentenced to 30 to 60 years in prison, a virtual life sentence for the 68-year-old man.

"I wasn't expecting it," Fisher said, "I was kind of thinking that he'd get off scot free with this."

Though the conviction was a victory, Sandusky was not the only adult who Fisher felt betrayed his trust. Fisher still has questions for the teachers and administrators at his high school.

"It's a fact that I lost a good portion of my childhood," he said. "I endured heartaches and numerous amounts of people who didn't believe me and walked away from me."

Watch the full story on "20/20" tonight at 10 p.m. ET.

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