BELLEFONTE, Pa. — Delusional child-sex fiend Jerry Sandusky delivered an off-his-rocker, football pep talk in court today, before facing his grim reality: a life and eventual death behind bars.
A Pennsylvania judge sentenced Sandusky to at least 30 years in prison for sexually abusing at least 10 needy children, touching off the worst scandal in college sports and bringing down legendary coach Joe Paterno.
At age 68, the former Nittany Lions defensive coordinator is a near-lock to kick the bucket as a Keystone State guest.
Somehow, the crazed coach compared his upcoming prison sentence to a football game that he could still win, with a miracle fourth-quarter rally.
“We’re in the fourth quarter,” Sandusky said during his rambling courtroom address.
“In the fourth quarter you find out who will stand by you. For those still standing up for me, we will continue to fight.”
He continued to deny allegations and portrayed himself as the victim of a mass conspiracy.
“I’ve forgiven, I’ve been forgiven. I’ve comforted others, I’ve been comforted. I’ve been kissed by dogs, I’ve been bit by dogs,” said Sandusky, who also mentioned his love for the epic horse-racing flick “Seabiscuit.”
“I’ve conformed, I’ve also been different. I’ve been me. I’ve been loved, I’ve been hated.”
Judge John Cleland hit Sandusky with a term of at least 30 years in prison and no more than 60 years.
Cleland could have sentenced Sandusky to more than 400 years behind bars.
Even though Sandusky didn’t get that top-end, highly symbolic sentence, ESPN legal analyst Roger Cossack said the disgraced coach won’t leave prison in anything but a wooden box.
“We should call it what it is: it’s a life sentence and the judge was very, very clear he was giving Sandusky a life sentence,” Cossack said.
“He’s 68. I suspect he’ll never walk out of prison after today.”
The former Penn State assistant coach was found guilty in June of 45 counts of child sexual abuse, convicted of molesting 10 boys over a 15-year period.
Sandusky used the charitable organization he founded, The Second Mile, as a personal hunting ground for troubled boys that he groomed to become his victims, according to testimony.
His arrest 11 months ago, and the details that came out during his trial over the summer, transformed Sandusky’s public image from a beloved college coach into that of a reviled pervert who preyed on young, vulnerable kids.
Eight of the boys he was found guilty of molesting testified at his trial, describing a range of abuse that included fondling, oral sex and anal intercourse.
One of the prosecution’s star witnesses, former graduate assistant Mike McQueary, testified that he saw Sandusky raping a boy in the Penn State locker room shower.
Among the three victims who spoke today was a young man who said he was 11 when Sandusky groped him in a shower in 1998. He said Sandusky is in denial and should “stop coming up with excuses.”
“I’ve been left with deep painful wounds that you caused and had been buried in the garden of my heart for many years,” he said.
Another man said he was 13 when, in 2001, Sandusky lured him into a Penn State sauna and then a shower and then forced him to touch the ex-coach.
“I am troubled with flashbacks of his naked body, something that will never be erased from my memory,” he said. “Jerry has harmed children, of which I am one of them.”
The scandal brought shame and devastation to Penn State and the revered Nittany Lions football program led by Paterno.
The head coach, known as JoePa, led a gridiron team that prided itself on winning with honor.
But in the wake of Sandusky’s arrest, it emerged that Paterno and other high school officials had at least some knowledge of his inappropriate contact with kids.
Paterno was fired near the end of last season. He passed away from lung cancer in January at the age of 85.
The NCAA, the governing body of college sports, slammed Penn State this summer with a $60 million penalty, scholarship restrictions and a four-year postseason football ban.
The Nittany Lions and Paterno, who once had the most wins in college football history, were also stripped of all victories dating back to 1998.
Sandusky — who spent so many Saturday afternoons charging onto the football field at Penn State’s Beaver Stadium — arrived to court today in considerably less glamorous fashion.
He sported a red “Centre County” jail jumpsuit. He flashed a creepy smile at times during court proceedings.
The disgraced football coach’s wife Dottie, sons Jeff and EJ and daughter Kara also attended today’s hearing.
Sandusky has consistently maintained his innocence and plans to appeal. One element of the appeal is expected to be a claim that the defense did not have time to adequately prepare for trial.
“I can get three continuances for a parking ticket,” defense lawyer Karl Rominger said. “We couldn’t get one continuance for Sandusky.”
Sandusky’s protests of innocence didn’t impress lead prosecutor Joe McGettigan, who mocked the perv’s courtroom presentation.
“He displayed the same cowardice that he displayed when he preyed on children,” McGettigan said.
McGettigan had no beefs with the judge’s 30-to-60-year slap on Sandusky: “The sentence the court imposed today was a wise and proper one.”
The scandal brought devastation in State College that will take years to fully assess.
Several victims are pressing civil claims and a January trial is pending for Gary Schultz and Tim Curley, two university administrators charged with failing to properly report suspicions about Sandusky and lying to the grand jury that investigated him.
Over the summer, an investigation commissioned by the university and led by former FBI Director Louis Freeh concluded that Paterno and other top officials covered up allegations against Sandusky for years to avoid bad publicity.
The scandal also toppled university President Graham Spanier and led to the NCAA’s crippling football sanctions.
A third victim, who had also testified against Sandusky, told the court today he’s sorry for not reporting the coach earlier.
”I want you [Sandusky] to know I don’t forgive you and I don’t know if I will ever forgive you,” said the man, who had testified that he was raped over the course of many years by Sandusky, including on team trips to bowl games in Texas and Florida.
“My only regret is that I didn’t come forward sooner.”
With AP