Victims will address Sandusky

Sentencing today for ex-college coach

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. — The young men who testified that Jerry Sandusky sexually abused them finally will have the chance to say exactly how the abuse by the man they trusted has affected them.

That opportunity, in open court face to face with their abuser, is called a victim impact statement and will come during Sandusky’s sentencing hearing today.

The former Penn State University assistant football coach was convicted in June of 45 counts of abusing the young boys he met through the Second Mile, the charity he started. Given the number of counts, the 68-year-old Sandusky is facing the rest of his life in a state prison.

He was convicted of eight counts of involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, which are first-degree felonies that alone carry a maximum sentence of up to 20 years behind bars.

Late yesterday, in a three-minute statement aired by Penn State’s student-run radio station, Sandusky accused his victims of lodging “false allegations” against him.

He blamed a conspiracy driven by aggressive investigators, lying accusers and the media for putting him behind bars and questioned whether anything good could come from the publicity his case has received.

“They can take away my life. They can make me out as a monster. They can treat me as a monster, but they can’t take away my heart,” he said. “In my heart, I know I did not do these alleged disgusting acts.”

Prosecutor Joseph E. McGettigan likely will ask Senior Judge John Cleland to make as many of the counts as possible run consecutive to one another and to hand down the maximum sentence for each count.

“The bottom line is this,” Sandusky’s attorney Joseph Amendola said, emerging yesterday afternoon from an in-chambers conference with Cleland. “How can he be remorseful if he maintains his innocence?”