BELLEFONTE, Pa. - Defense lawyer, Joe Amendola makes a closing arguments Thursday in the Jerry Sandusky sex abuse case.
"Jerry Sandusky is the victim of overzealous investigators and accusers with financial motives who targeted the generous former Penn State assistant football coach," said Amendola according to AP.
Judge John Cleland dropped three of the 51 charges of sex-abuse, claiming that there was not sufficient evidence for them. Now the former Penn State football coach faces 48 criminal counts.
After much noise about Sandusky's potential testimony, Sandusky did not testify yesterday. However, his 69-year-old wife Dottie took to stand where she broke her silence after months of staying mum since the beginning of the scandal.
69-year-old Dottie rebutted all accusations made by the various victims stating that she never saw her husband engage in any inappropriate behavior with the boys when they stayed over their house. She said that she had no idea why the alleged victims were claiming so when asked by prosecutors why they were accusing her husband of sexual abuse.
Dottie has been married to Sandusky since 1966.
The heart of the defense lied in showing Sandusky's character and reputation to be noble. Throughout the week defense is tired to discredit the testimonies of alleged victims and their parents. Amendola has constantly stated and argued that the victims have been ambiguous about date and time details of the alleged attacks. His claim is that the victims have an ulterior motive of winning huge amounts of money from the university in civil suits, which he is sure will follow after this trial.
The defense focused on building Sandusky's character by presenting co-workers who testified to the 68-year-old's solid reputation and noble character. One fellow employee told jurors that "it was not uncommon for coaches to shower with young children following workouts and other physical activities," as reported by USA Today. Richard Anderson, another witness, claimed to have seen Sandusky in the shower with young boys but never noticed anything inappropriate.
Then he brought to stand two state troopers, who investigated Sandusky for the alleged crimes. Amendola pursued that the investigators has coaxed witness to provide testimonies that would help prosecutors. One of the investigators called to stand was Joseph Leiter, defense presented a tape showing him talking to some of the victims. Amendola reprimanded the investigator for training the victims on what to say. Leiter maintained that his technique was professional and that no coercion was involved.
All nine alleged victims claimed that the 68-year-old ex-coach had bought them gifts and told them he loved them. They have testified to incidents where Sandusky touched them in showers, and abused them in his house.
