Up in Pennsylvania's Centre County Court the testimony against former Penn St. assistant coach Jerry Sandusky is tumbling out in lurid and awful detail. MSNBC is reporting that a witness today is saying that in 1998 Sandusky forced him to perform oral sex and at other times insisted on returning the favor. He claims Sandusky intimidated him by saying that if he told anyone he'd never see his family again.
The witness, who MSNBC will not name publicly, said Sandusky later apologized for the threat and told him he loved him. He also funneled Penn State football tickets to the boy for years to keep him on the string. The witness, now 25 years old told the court he kept his silence until last year because, "I was scared, ashamed, and embarrassed."
Earlier in the trial former assistant coach Mike McQueary testified that he was "certain" Sandusky was having anal intercourse with a boy in the Penn St. locker room showers when he wandered in there one night. His only reaction to the grotesque tableau was to slam a locker door loudly, hoping Sandusky would hear it and know someone else was around. McQueary, who was then a graduate assistant and not an actual staff member, says he was in such shock he didn't know what to do.
He called his father that night, which the father verified. The older McQueary told his son to tell head coach Joe Paterno about what he saw. McQueary says he did that the following day. Unfortunately we know where that went. Straight into the dead letter file. That is why Paterno was fired and others are facing criminal charges for perjury, obstruction and generally being assholes.
Sandusky's attorney, Joe Amendola continues to maintain that all this is a crude shake down and has pointed out several of the witnesses are suing the university and a couple are suing Sandusky himself. He has made some bizarre statements about the normality of Sandusky horsing around in the showers with the boys and giving "raspberries" on the bellies of children among other things. He has said this sort of behavior is common in the athletic world.
I can't speak for Penn State's "athletic world" but I was involved in organized sports from the ages of eight through eighteen. In those ten years not one coach showered in the same area as the team and certainly none of them ever gave any of us raspberries on the belly, or anywhere else. Amendola's assessment of the situation in that regard ranks right up there with Michael Jackson saying he saw nothing wrong with children sleeping with adult men.
Big Joe also put into evidence that part of the Bob Costas interview where Sandusky denied he was sexually attracted to boys. Analysts are speculating he did that in order to get Sandusky's denial on the record while actually avoiding calling his client to the stand.
Yes, after this deluge of pedophilia and sodomy it would probably be best for Coach Jerry to keep as far away from the witness stand as possible. Lord only knows what the jury would make of that affable smile after hearing what they have lately.
Meanwhile in Florida the wife of George Zimmerman has been jailed on charges of perjury. Her bond has been set at $1000. At issue is her failure to mention a Paypal account associated with a Zimmerman web site during his bail hearing . The web site, which has been taken down, was an appeal for donations to a defense fund. When first reported the amount of money taken in was put at over $200,000. That figure has been revised down to around $135,000. That would still be about $135,000 more than Shellie Zimmerman told the court under oath that her family had at their disposal to get her husband out of jail.
Zimmerman, the man who shot Trayvon Martin, had his own bond revoked earlier. In doing so Judge Kenneth Lester said, "There are several factors that weigh against his release. Most importantly though is the fact he has now demonstrated that he does not properly respect the law, or the integrity of the judicial process."
Ouch. Defense attorney Mark O'Mara's job just got a little tougher. The jury might look at that self defense plea with a jaundiced eye now that the accused has "demonstrated that he does not properly respect the law, or the integrity of the judicial process."
It hasn't been a good week for either Jerry Sandusky, or the Zimmermans. Of course it could be said things haven't been so great for their alleged victims either. They are either dead, or on course to spend the rest of their lives in therapy.
There aren't going to be happy endings in either of these affairs no matter what their dispositions. You can't bring back the dead and you can't forget what happened to you. As is far too common the only winners will be lawyers and psychiatrists. It looks like everyone else will have to go the Paypal route.
6-13-12
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