BELLEFONTE, Pa. — The jury in the child sex abuse trial of former Penn State assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky began deliberating Thursday.
After just eight days of testimony, the high-profile case now rests in the hands of 12 men and women, most of whom have ties to the university and now-defunct children’s charity at the center of the scandal.
In his closing arguments Thursday, lead defense attorney Joe Amendola argued Sandusky is a victim of overzealous detectives and his accusers’ desire for a financial windfall.
“Folks, do we have to get hit in the head with a brick to figure this out? This man’s life is at stake,” Amendola told the jurors, according to The Patriot-News.
“I’ll be the first to tell you, if he did this, he should rot in jail for the rest of his life. But what if he didn’t do this?”
He added, “The system decided Mr. Sandusky was guilty and the system set out to convict him.”
Senior Deputy Attorney General Joseph McGettigan dismissed Amendola’s conspiracy theories as he addressed the jury for the final time Thursday.
“It’s not about conspiracies … It’s not about fame, or fortune, or money,” McGettigan said, according to The Daily Collegian.
“I don’t think troopers get raises for doing their jobs,” he added.
McGettigan closed his arguments by walking over and pointing his finger directly at Sandusky seated at the defense table.
“He knows he did it and you know he did it,” McGettigan said. “Acknowledge it and give [the people who said they were abused by him] justice and give [Sandusky] the justice he really deserves.”
Sandusky, who has pleaded not guilty, faces 48 counts of sexual abuse after the judge dismissed four of the original 52 counts. The 68-year-old is accused of molesting 10 boys over a 15-year period, using his charity, Second Mile, to meet and maintain contact with children.