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Prosecutors said Sandusky used gifts and the allure of Penn State’s vaunted football program to attract and abuse vulnerable boys who came from troubled homes, often ones without a father figure in the house.
"What you should do is come out and say to the defendant that he molested and abused and give them back their souls," McGettigan told jurors. "I give them to you. Acknowledge and give them justice."
Defense attorney Joe Amendola argued that Sandusky was targeted by investigators who coached accusers into making false claims about a generous man whose charity gave them much-needed love.
"So out of the blue (after) all these years, when Jerry Sandusky is in his mid-50s, he decides to become a pedophile? Does that make sense to anybody?" Amendola asked rhetorically.
The jury, which includes nine people with ties to Penn State, had already begun deliberating when Matt Sandusky’s attorneys issued a statement alleging that his father abused him.
"During the trial, Matt Sandusky contacted us and requested our advice and assistance in arranging a meeting with prosecutors to disclose for the first time in this case that he is a victim of Jerry Sandusky’s abuse," Andrew Shubin and Justine Andronici said in the statement. "At Matt’s request, we immediately arranged a meeting between him and the prosecutors and investigators.
"This has been an extremely painful experience for Matt and he has asked us to convey his request that the media respect his privacy. There will be no further comment."
Matt Sandusky went to live with Sandusky and his wife as a foster child and was adopted by them as an adult. He is one of Jerry Sandusky’s six adopted children.
Shortly after Jerry Sandusky’s arrest, Matt Sandusky’s ex-wife went to court to keep her former father-in-law away from their three young children. Jill Jones successfully obtained a restraining order forbidding the children from sleeping over at their grandparents’ home.
Around the same time, details emerged that Matt Sandusky had attempted suicide just four months after first going to live with the couple in 1995. He had come into the home through The Second Mile.
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Shortly after the suicide attempt, Sandusky’s probation officer wrote, "The probation department has some serious concerns about the juvenile’s safety and his current progress in placement with the Sandusky family," according to court records supplied to The Associated Press by his birth mother, Debra Long.
Despite those concerns, probation and child welfare officials recommended continued placement with the Sandusky family, and the judge overseeing his case agreed.
During testimony last week, an accuser known as Victim 4 said Matt Sandusky was living at the Sandusky home at the time he stayed there overnight and testified that Jerry Sandusky came into the shower with the two boys and "started pumping his hand full of soap." Matt Sandusky shut off the shower and left, appearing nervous, the witness said.
On Friday, three of Matt Sandusky’s siblings — Jeffrey Sandusky, Jon Sandusky and Kara Werner — were in court with their parents.
Another son, Ray Sandusky, who lives in Brentwood, Tenn., said he had no comment and closed the door on an Associated Press reporter.
A sixth Sandusky child, E.J., could not be located by the AP on Friday.
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