STATE COLLEGE —
As Jerry Sandusky insisted through a lawyer Monday that he is not guilty of sexually abusing children, a juror who voted to convict the retired Penn State assistant coach said she hoped the verdict would help his accusers heal.
The jury found the testimony of the eight victims who took the witness stand compelling, Ann Van Kuren said Monday.
Jurors weighed the accounts and evidence diligently before finding Sandusky guilty last week of 45 counts for sexually abusing 10 boys over 15 years, she said.
She expressed empathy for the eight men who offered emotional and explicit testimony.
“I really feel for the victims and any other victims that are out there that haven’t come forward,” Van Kuren said. “That all of them need to heal. I’m hoping that this trial, with this verdict, will help them heal.”
Sandusky, 68, is under observation at the Centre County jail, where he is being kept away from other inmates pending a psychological review that will help determine the next step toward his sentencing in about three months.
“He’s defiant and wants the truth to be told. He wants people to know that he’s not guilty,” said defense attorney Karl Rominger, who visited his incarcerated client Monday.
Also Monday, Judge John Cleland ordered county probation officers to evaluate whether Sandusky is a sexual predator, a finding that could factor into his prison placement.
Sandusky, who has been placed under a suicide watch, said he doesn’t want to kill himself and wants to get the separate psychological examination done so that he can receive visits from his friends and family, Rominger said.
The state investigation into Sandusky didn’t begin until after the ex-coach was barred from a high school in 2009, when a mother complained about the former coach.
At the time, Gov. Tom Corbett was the state attorney general. Charges were filed in November 2011.
Investigators took into account Sandusky’s status as a celebrated assistant coach in building the case, Corbett said Monday when asked in Harrisburg why charges weren’t filed after the first accuser came forward.
“If it’s one-on-one and now put the celebrity status in, put (that) Jerry Sandusky is loved by everybody ... how can anybody say there must be something wrong,” Corbett said.
“You’d better corroborate it, and that’s what they started doing.”
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