NYT NEWS ALERT: Sandusky Is Found Guilty on 45 of 48 Counts in Child Sexual Abuse Case
— The New York Times (@nytimes) June 23, 2012
Jerry Sandusky will spend the rest of his life in prison. The Justice System has prevailed.
After two days of deliberation, the jury returned guilty verdicts on 45 of the 48 charges brought against Jerry Sandusky, including 25 convictions on the 28 felony charges, and 14 convictions on the 17 first-degree felony charges he faced.
All together, they add up to a prison sentence of up to 422 years, though we'll have to wait a couple weeks for the official sentencing decision. Still, there's no scenario in which Jerry Sandusky ever spends another day as a free man.
Tonight, we all should thank the jurors not for the verdict they returned, but for how they served their community and their state, given the monumental task before them, and the intense worldwide focus on their decisions.
And most of all, we should thank the eight brave young men who came forward to share their horrific stories of systematic abuse at the hands of a man they trusted. They are no longer alleged victims, they are simply victims of Jerry Sandusky, and our hearts go out to them. May they find some solace in this decision.
In the past two weeks, Penn Staters everywhere have experienced a range of emotions from terror to anguish, heartache to shock and anger. We can now add, to a far lesser degree, relief.
The is hardly the end of the saga that began so abruptly more than 7 months ago, but perhaps it will serve as something of a catharsis to the Penn State community. The damage done to these young men, and those others who may have suffered at the hands of Jerry Sandusky, can not be undone. However, a predator is behind bars tonight, and the healing process may now begin.
We are not nearly out of the woods. The upcoming trials of Tim Curley and Gary Schultz, and the potential trial of Graham Spanier, as well as the revelations contained in the Freeh report, will likely prove upsetting, disturbing, and will keep Penn State in the nation's spotlight. We will likely see a number of civil suits, naming Penn State University as a defendant. This is far from over.
But we are all ambassadors of the university we love. Although some are too foolish or too ignorant or too singlemindedly in pursuit of some narative to understand it, Penn State and Penn Staters are not now, nor were we ever, defined by the heinous actions of Jerry Sandusky. We must remember that now, and react with humility and deference. The most important thing is that the victims might have some closure, that they might be able to get on with their lives.
This is their victory, not ours.
But the circus is over, at least for now.
Onward State has a breakdown of the charges and convictions.