BELLEFONTE, Pa. (AP) — A day after hearing graphic details of alleged sexual encounters between former Penn State assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky and a then-teenage boy, the jury in his high-profile child sex-abuse case is expected to hear from another accuser.
Testimony was resuming Tuesday morning, and the accuser identified in a scathing grand jury report as Victim 1 could take the stand.
The earliest of Sandusky's alleged victims testified on the trial's opening day, telling jurors the former assistant to longtime Penn State coach Joe Paterno sent him "creepy love letters" and made him sign contracts that would pay him money for spending time together.
The man identified in court documents as Victim 4 testified that he began showering with Sandusky in 1997 and what started out as "soap battles" quickly escalated to sexual contact, including oral sex.
The alleged victim also testified about gifts, trips and access to the Penn State football team he received to buy his silence.
Sandusky faces 52 criminal counts related to the alleged assaults of 10 boys during a 15-year period. Authorities alleged Sandusky abused boys at his home and inside the football team's on-campus facilities among other places.
He arrived at the courthouse around 8:30 a.m. Tuesday with his attorney.
In opening statements to the seven-woman, five-man jury Monday, lead prosecutor Joseph McGettigan III described Sandusky as a "serial predator" and noted there were several missed chances for authorities to intervene before Sandusky was eventually arrested.
McGettigan said Sandusky methodically used his youth charity, The Second Mile, to zero in on fatherless children or those with unstable home lives, plied them with gifts and took advantage of them sexually.
Sandusky lawyer Joe Amendola countered that the case is flimsy and that some of the accusers apparently intend to sue and have a financial stake in the case — a preview of the battle to come as the defense tries to undermine the credibility of the young men upon whom the case rests.
The charges against Sandusky — and two university officials accused of perjury and failing to report suspected child abuse — touched off a massive scandal that led to the firing of Paterno and the departure of the university president. Paterno died in January of lung cancer, just over two months after his ouster.
