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DEFENSE RESTS; SANDUSKY DOESN'T TESTIFY

Closing arguments are today in the sex abuse trial of the former Penn State coach.
 
Published June 21, 2012

Associated Press

BELLEFONTE, Pa. - Jerry Sandusky's lawyers rested their case Wednesday without calling the former Penn State assistant football coach to the stand to rebut child sex abuse allegations that could put him in prison for the rest of his life.

The sudden end to the defense's presentation came on the seventh day of the trial, during which the jury heard from eight men - now 18 to 28 - who said the former coach sexually assaulted them after they met him through the charity he founded. Closing arguments are set for this morning.

Sandusky is charged with 51 criminal counts for alleged abuse of 10 boys over 15 years. He has denied the allegations but acknowledged in interviews after his arrest that he had showered with boys.

The accusers described for jurors a range of sexual abuse at his hands, from allegations of grooming and fondling to oral sex and forced anal sex that one young man said left him injured. The identities of two other alleged victims are unknown to investigators.

The defense has suggested the accusers have financial motivations for their claims and were improperly influenced by investigators. They also put on character witnesses who spoke of Sandusky's sound reputation and Sandusky's wife, Dottie, who said she never saw him act inappropriately with the accusers.

Wednesday, the defense sought to undercut testimony from a former graduate assistant who told jurors he saw Sandusky sexually abusing a boy inside a football facility shower more than a decade ago.

Dr. Jonathan Dranov, a family friend of Mike McQueary, said he spoke to McQueary the night McQueary claimed to have seen Sandusky engaging in a sex act with a boy of about 10. Dranov said McQueary described hearing "sexual sounds" and seeing a boy in the shower and an arm reach around him and pull him out of view. McQueary said he made eye contact with the boy and Sandusky later emerged from the showers, Dranov said.

That account differs from what McQueary told a grand jury that investigated Sandusky and what he told jurors last week.

The morning also featured testimony from more defense character witnesses, including a couple of participants in Sandusky's youth charity, the Second Mile.

One of the former Second Mile participants, David Hilton, said he felt like investigators were trying to coach him into accusing Sandusky.

"When it got to the second or third time I felt like they wanted me to say something that isn't true," he said.