Jerry Sandusky Guilty

Jerry Sandusky will likely die in jail after a jury convicted him on 45 of 48 counts related to sexual abuse of boys, even after his defense team announced plans to appeal despite the mountain of convictions against his client.

“If you win on one of the appeal issues, everything probably falls,” attorney Joe Amendola said. “So all we have to do is convince an appellate court that one of the issues that we will raise is worthy of a reversal. … It doesn’t matter, it could be 100 counts, and it would still all come back if an appeal is granted.”

You know, stuff like this is what makes people think lawyers are the devil.

His co-counsel, Karl Rominger, cited questionable court decisions during the trial as grounds for appeal.

“The judge was very fair to us on many levels, but there were a lot of unique legal issues where he made rulings that could be overturned, not because they were, per se, wrong, but because the law in the area was so unclear,” Rominger said. “Substantial constitutional questions” surrounded the prosecution’s ability to use an accuser’s claims based on hearsay alone. “All the convictions could come back on that ruling alone,” he said.

At the same time, Amendola pointed to a “tidal wave of public opinion” against his client as one of several factors that led him to believe this outcome wasn’t surprising.

“It was the expected outcome because of the overwhelming evidence against Jerry Sandusky,” he said.

Pennsylvania Attorney General Linda Kelly, expressed satisfaction in the jury’s decision to hold the former Penn State assistant football coach accountable. She was especially thankful for the victims who testified, in some cases many years after they were abused.

“It was incredibly difficult for some of them to unearth long buried memories of (what) they had suffered,” Kelly said. “This trial was not something that they sought, but rather something that forced them to face the demons of their past.”

Sandusky should be sentenced in about 90 days, the judge said. Jurors did not speak with the media immediately after the verdict.

Though Friday night’s verdict prompted cheers outside the courtroom, inside, the mother of Victim 6 did not claim victory.

“Nobody wins. We’ve all lost,” she said before hugging her son.