THE SANDUSKY PENN STATE TRIAL GETS UNDERWAY............

The trial of former Penn State assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky, charged with 52 counts of child sexual abuse and rape, against 10 boys over a 15 year period, has gotten underway with very graphic testimony.  The first witness called was a now 28 year old man, who testified that Sandusky showered him with gifts and offered him a contract, to keep him from reporting the abusive behavior.  The so called Victim #4, said Sandusky molested him in the locker room and hotels,while seeking to silence him with gifts and trips to bowl games.  He went on to describe a creepy love letter sent to him by Sandusky.  Sandusky's defense attorneys argued in their opening statement that men of Sandusky's generation, (he is 68) are accustomed to showering with boys and if he is guilty of anything it is. "he has not kept up with the times".  The prosecuting attorney in his opening statement called Sandusky a, "predatory  pedophile", who availed of 'Second Mile', the youth charity he founded, to identify and befriend fatherless and unstable home boys.  Eight of the fifteen alledged victims are expected to testify at the trial.  Pennsylvania does not have an Expert Witmess law, thus prosecutors will not be able to provide expert testimony as to why the victims waited for so many years to report the sexual abuse they endured.  The strength of the prosecution's  eight witnesses testimony and credibility; versus the defense's attempt to undermine their credibility and assert that they are only attempting to get money from Sandusky,   The jury is comprised of five men, seven women, with four alternates.  Eight of the sixteen have ties to Penn State University.  Whose credibility the jury believes most may not only affect the quest for justice, but vindication for the university and until now, prestigious football program, which under the surface allowed such criminal abuse to persist for a decade and a half............Fr.  Troy