Former Penn State University assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky, right, arrives with his attorney, Joe Amendola, for the first day of jury selection as his trial on 52 counts of child sexual abuse involving 10 boys over a period of 15 years gets underway at the Centre County Courthouse in Bellefonte, Pa., Tuesday, June 5, 2012. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)GENARO C. ARMAS snd MARK SCOLFORO
BELLEFONTE, Pa. (AP) – Most of the men and women who may render a verdict in Jerry Sandusky’s child sexual abuse case have been chosen, and their ranks reflect the strong role Penn State plays in its surrounding community.
Nine of the 12 main members of the jury were selected Tuesday, and they include a rising senior at the college, a retired soil sciences professor with 37 years at the university, a man with bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the school and a woman who’s been a football season ticket holder since the 1970s.
Others selected included a 24-year-old man with plans to attend an auto technician school, a mother of two who works in retail, a retired school bus driver, an engineer with no Penn State ties and a property management firm employee.
The main jury already includes five men and four women. The other three main jurors and four alternates could be chosen as early as Wednesday, with opening statements scheduled for Monday. The judge said the case could last several weeks.