Prosecutors label Sandusky ‘a predator'; defense aims at accusers during day 1 of trial

BELLEFONTE, Pa. — A jury of seven women and five men got their first glimpse of the case against former Penn State assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky — and his defense — when opening statements began inside of the Centre County Courthouse Monday.

Sandusky, 68, faces 52 criminal counts that he sexually abused 10 boys over 15 years, allegations he's consistently denied.

Channel 11's Courtney Brennan was inside the courtroom when opening statements began. Brennan said Sandusky's supporters took up four rows of seats in the room and included his wife, Dottie, and other members of Sandusky's family.

Brennan said they hugged each other as each came inside. Dottie and her son, Matt, had to leave during the opening statements because they will be witnesses in the trial.

Dottie Sandusky wasn’t in the courtroom when Victim No. 4 testified about the sexual abuse allegations.

Victim No. 4 said he was in a hotel bathroom with Sandusky once when Dottie walked into the room and outside the door asked, “What are you doing in there?”

Victim No. 4 said that while Sandusky was a father figure to him, at times he treated him like a girlfriend.

Victim No. 4 also said he thought Dottie Sandusky always seemed cold.

He said he feels responsible for what happened to other alleged victims because he didn't come forward earlier.

The 28-year-old man said he was reluctant to cooperate with the sweeping investigation into the allegations against the former Penn State assistant football coach.

Under cross-examination by defense lawyer Joseph Amendola, the man said: "I feel if I just said something back then ... I feel responsible for what happened to other victims."

The man told jurors that Sandusky gave him several gifts, including a snowboard and a copy of Sports Illustrated magazine autographed by linebacker LaVar Arrington.

Many of the alleged victims are expected to take the stand for the prosecution, and their credibility in jurors' eyes could prove to be the decisive factor in determining the verdict.

Before opening statements began Judge John Cleland told the jury, " Many of you are Penn State students or faculty. Some of you are football fans. Some of you could care less.  You are a cross section of the people in Centre County. You are a jury of the defendant's peers."

The prosecution outlined testimony the jurors will hear by saying the case against Sandusky has to do with systemic behavior by a serial predator.

Senior Deputy Attorney General Joseph McGettigan III opened by telling jurors that the retired coach was a pedophile who took advantage of fatherless children or those with unstable home lives and sexually abused them for years.

McGettigan, apologizing in advance for what he said would be disturbing and graphic testimony, said he would prove that the abuse included oral and anal sex involving boys Sandusky met through a children's charity and that it took place "not over days, not over weeks, not even over months, but in some cases over years."

Sandusky's lawyer, Joe Amendola, said the young men who would take the stand are accusers, not victims. He said jurors may find it odd that Sandusky showered with children, but that it was innocuous, and part of Sandusky's upbringing.

"In Jerry's culture, growing up in his generation, where he grew up, he's going to tell you it was routine for individuals to get showers together," Amendola said. "I suspect for those of you who might have been in athletics, it's routine."

Prosecutors showed photos of the alleged victims as children on a screen. In big, block letters the prosecution then put up the words "humiliation, shame, fear" and said those were the three emotions that the victims experienced that led to "silence."

In one of the photos, Jerry Sandusky's hand was on the shoulder of one of the alleged victims, Brennan reported.

While the photos were shown, Brennan said Sandusky looked at each picture and took notes.

The prosecution also told the jury that they will hear from Mike McQueary, who said he saw his former coach naked in a shower behind a boy, with both of their hands pressed up against the shower wall and that there was skin-to-skin contact.

Amendola told the jury that there was no sexual contact between the accusers and Sandusky. Amendola also said that the jurors should note that the one constant in the case is how Sandusky has maintained his innocence.

Amendola also said that his team doesn't think that McQueary lied, but rather they think he saw something and made assumptions.

McGettigan said prosecutors will show a pattern in which Sandusky groomed boys, gave them gifts and then abused them, sometimes in the Penn State football team's on-campus facilities.

McGettigan called The Second Mile, the children's charity Sandusky established in 1977, the "perfect environment for the predatory pedophile" and his way to get close to his victims.

The Second Mile and Penn State aren't on trial, McGettigan told jurors, many of whom have ties to the university.

"This defendant, for what he did, his acts, he is on trial," McGettigan said.

Among the items seized by investigators was a list of Second Mile participants whose names were marked with asterisks -- including some of those expected to testify -- that included notations about what they looked like and whether they lived with their parents, McGettigan said.

Six of the alleged victims had no father in their lives, McGettigan said.

"They are real people with real experience," McGettigan said. "You will know they were violated."

The first man to testify, Victim No. 4, will detail how Sandusky plied him with gifts and trips and coerced him into sexual contact, including dozens of liaisons in a sauna, McGettigan said.

The prosecutor said the same man would tell the jury about how Dottie Sandusky inadvertently interrupted an encounter in a San Antonio hotel after Sandusky brought the youth with him when Penn State played in the Alamo Bowl in December 1999 — Sandusky's final game as a Penn State coach. Sandusky coerced him into engaging in oral sex in a hotel room bathroom, but was interrupted when the coach's wife entered the hotel room, McGettigan said.

Dottie Sandusky arrived in the courtroom Monday, but left when the judge sequestered witnesses.

The man, now 28, will be the oldest of the alleged victims to testify, said McGettigan.

Meanwhile, a defense lawyer for Sandusky has asked a judge to admit the former Penn State assistant football coach's entire autobiography as evidence in the trial.

Karl Rominger said he believes the prosecution will try to use snippets from the book "Touched" to mischaracterize Sandusky's actions and motivations. Rominger says jurors should see the whole book so they can put the material in context.

Rominger is also asking Judge John Cleland to admit the grand jury testimony of Penn State officials Graham Spanier, Tim Curley and Gary Schultz. He says all three are expected to invoke their right against self incrimination if the defense calls them to testify.

Both motions were filed Monday, the same day Sandusky's trial began.

 The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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