Sabrina B.

The defense for Jerry Sandusky rested its case Wednesday without calling the former Penn State assistant football coach to the stand in his controversial child sex abuse trial.

 

Sandusky’s lawyer, Joe Amendola, said earlier in the day that Sandusky wanted to to testify but was overruled by his attorneys.

 

Amendola hinted last week that Sandusky could testify, but the defense had stayed quiet on the topic until Wednesday.

 

Closing statements could take place Thursday, with deliberations beginning that afternoon.

 

Sandusky is charged with 51 criminal counts related to 10 alleged victims over a 15-year span. He’s accused of engaging in illegal sexual contact ranging from fondling to forced oral and anal sex.

Sandusky, 68, has acknowledged showering with boys but says he didn’t molest them.

During Wednesday’s proceedings, the defense sought to undercut testimony from former graduate assistant Mike McQueary, who told jurors he saw Sandusky sexually abusing a boy inside a football facility shower.

Dr. Jonathan Dranov said that he spoke to McQueary the night McQueary claimed to have seen Sandusky engaging in a sex act with a boy of about 10.

Dranov testified that McQueary, a family friend, described hearing “sexual sounds” and seeing a boy in the shower and an arm reach around him and pull him out of view. McQueary said he made eye-contact with the boy and Sandusky later emerged from the showers, Dranov said.

That account differs from what McQueary told a grand jury that investigated Sandusky and what he told jurors last week.

McQueary testified he saw Sandusky pressing a boy up against the wall inside the shower, and that he had no doubt he was witnessing anal sex.

McQueary’s report to his superiors — and Penn State officials’ failure to take the incident to outside law enforcement — is what ultimately led to the firing of longtime coach Joe Paterno.

ESPN