Former Penn State University assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky exits the courthouse after the defense rested it’s case at the Centre County Courthouse in Bellefonte, Pa., Wednesday, June 20, 2012. Sandusky is charged with 51 counts of child sexual abuse involving 10 boys over a period of 15 years. (AP Photo/Centre Daily Times, Nabil K. Mark)MARK SCOLFORO and GENARO C. ARMAS
BELLEFONTE, Pa. – Jurors in Jerry Sandusky’s child sexual abuse case began deliberations today after prosecutors described him as a serial molester who groomed his victims, while his defense lawyer said the former Penn State assistant football coach was being victimized by an overzealous prosecution and greedy accusers.
Prosecutors said Sandusky was “a serial, predatory pedophile” who used gifts and the pageantry of Penn State’s vaunted football program to lure and abuse vulnerable boys who came from troubled homes.
“What you should do is come out and say to the defendant that he molested and abused and give them back their souls,” Senior Deputy Attorney General Joseph McGettigan III. “I give them to you. Acknowledge and give them justice.”
Standing behind Sandusky, McGettigan implored the jury to convict him