BELLEFONTE, Pa.
(AP) -- Jerry Sandusky was sentenced Tuesday to at least 30 years in
prison - effectively a life sentence - in the child sexual abuse scandal
that brought shame to Penn State and led to coach Joe Paterno's
downfall.
A defiant Sandusky gave a rambling
statement in which he denied the allegations and talked about his life
in prison and the pain of being away from his family.
Three victims spoke, often fighting back tears. One looked Sandusky in the eyes at times.
The
68-year-old former Penn State assistant coach was found guilty in June
of 45 counts of child sexual abuse, convicted of molesting 10 boys over a
15-year period. Witnesses said Sandusky used the charitable
organization he founded for troubled children as his personal hunting
ground to find and groom boys to become his victims.
His
arrest 11 months ago, and the details that came out during his trial
over the summer, transformed Sandusky's public image from a college
coach who had been widely admired for his work with The Second Mile
charity into that of a reviled pervert who preyed on the very youngsters
who sought his help.
Eight of the boys he was
found guilty of molesting testified at his trial, describing a range of
abuse that included fondling, oral sex and anal intercourse. One of the
prosecution's star witnesses, former graduate assistant Mike McQueary,
testified that he saw Sandusky raping a boy in a locker room shower.
Among
the three who spoke Tuesday, a young man who said he was 11 when
Sandusky groped him in a shower in 1998 said Sandusky is in denial and
should "stop coming up with excuses."
"I've been left with deep painful wounds that you caused and had been buried in the garden of my heart for many years," he said.
Another
man said he was 13 when, in 2001, Sandusky lured him into a Penn State
sauna and then a shower and then forced him to touch the ex-coach.
"I
am troubled with flashbacks of his naked body, something that will
never be erased from my memory," he said. "Jerry has harmed children, of
which I am one of them."
Sandusky has consistently maintained his innocence and plans to appeal.
In
a three-minute monologue aired Monday night by Penn State Com Radio
that used some of the same language as his courtroom statement, Sandusky
said he knows in his heart that he did not do what he called "these
alleged disgusting acts" and described himself as the victim of a
coordinated conspiracy among Penn State, investigators, civil attorneys,
the media and others.
His statement in court lasted 15 minutes and his voice cracked as he spoke of missing his loved ones.
Judge
John Cleland sentenced him to 30 to 60 years in prison. Under
Pennsylvania law, Sandusky cannot be released on parole before the
minimum term is up.
"The tragedy of this crime
is that it's a story of betrayal. The most obviously aspect is your
betrayal of 10 children," Cleland said before the sentencing. "I'm not
going to sentence you to centuries in prison, although the law will
permit that." Still, Cleland said, he expected Sandusky to be in prison
for the rest of his life.
The scandal brought
devastation in State College that will take years to fully assess, as
Sandusky's victims are pressing civil claims and a January trial is
pending for Gary Schultz and Tim Curley, two university administrators
charged with failing to properly report suspicions about Sandusky and
lying to the grand jury that investigated him.
Soon
after the three were arrested in November, the board of trustees fired
Paterno, the school's most famous figure and a man who won two national
college football championships in the 1980s. Paterno died of lung cancer
in January.
Over the summer, an investigation
commissioned by the university and led by former FBI Director Louis
Freeh concluded that Paterno and other top officials covered up
allegations against Sandusky for years to avoid bad publicity.
The
scandal also toppled university President Graham Spanier and led to
crippling NCAA sanctions against the football team that included a $60
million fine, a ban on postseason play and a reduction in the number of
football scholarships the school can award. The NCAA also erased 14
years of victories for Paterno, stripping him of his standing as major
college football's winningest coach.
At least four young men have sued Penn State over the way the university responded to disturbing complaints about Sandusky.
Eight
legal teams representing at least 20 young men have surfaced, and the
school recently announced an effort to settle as many claims as possible
by the end of the year.
The third victim who
spoke had testified that he was raped over the course of years by
Sandusky, including on team trips to bowl games in Texas and Florida.
"I
want you to know I don't forgive you and I don't know if I will ever
forgive you," he said. "My only regret is that I didn't come forward
sooner."
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