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At the Jerry Sandusky trial, teenager, McQueary take the stand
Wednesday, June 13, 2012
By Terry Whetstone Staff Writer
Editor's note: Some content in this story involves court testimony from an alleged victim and a witness that is sexually explicit and graphic.
BELLEFONTE - Day two of the Jerry Sandusky trial opened with alleged Victim No. 1 taking the stand in the Centre County Courthouse and providing emotional testimony about his alleged abuse at the hands of the defendant.
A young man of 18 from Lock Haven testified he was referred to the Second Mile Camp, a charity for at-risk youth started by Sandusky, after the school he attended, Central Mountain School, received letters from the camp recruiting students. The teen said he thought he was recommended to attend because he did not have a father.
He told Senior Deputy Attorney General Joseph McGettigan III he got to know Sandusky his second or third year at the camp, when one day Sandusky showed up at his Lock Haven home with some other kids and took them all to Blanchard Dam.
Victim No. 1 said when he went with Sandusky it was usually with other kids, but occasionally they were alone.
He testified that while riding in the car, Sandusky would put his hand on his leg and said it made him uncomfortable.
He would spend the night at Sandusky's home quite often, usually sleeping in a basement bedroom. It was while he was in the basement that things began to happen.
He said Sandusky would kiss him on the forehead, kiss his cheek and eventually rub his back and pull him on top of Sandusky to crack his back. The teenager said Sandusky would pull his shirt up and blow on his stomach. "Kind of like you'd do to a baby to make it laugh," he said.
Victim No. 1 said it made him feel uncomfortable, but he did not know what to do.
When the incidents began, the witness said he was probably 11 or 12 years old.
He testified that Sandusky would always begin the same way - with kisses - eventually on the lips. He would then put his hands down the back of the victim's pants.
Victim No. 1 cried on the stand, saying, "... he put his mouth on my privates. I just froze. I didn't know what to do and I didn't want it to happen."
The courtroom listened intently as he continued his emotional testimony.
"I was embarrassed and confused," he said. "I didn't know what to do."
The witness said he would go out with Sandusky and that in the evening, back in Sandusky's basement, it would happen again and again.
One night things changed, said Victim No. 1, when Sandusky went through the usual routine of kisses, etc., and then looked at the victim and told him, "It's your turn."
Victim No. 1 said he froze, his mind was telling him to move, but he could not.
He said he was embarrassed and he did not tell his mom as he feared she would not believe him.
The teen said he began to act out, wetting the bed and causing fights with people, things that the teen said he would not normally do.
Eventually he asked his mother about the Megan's Law website for sex offenders, and when she asked him why, he said he wanted to see if Sandusky was on it.
She became concerned and together they went to see the school guidance counselor.
When Victim No. 1 told them about what was happening, "People wouldn't believe me," he cried. "They said he (Sandusky) has a heart of gold, he'd never do anything like that."
During cross examination Joe Amendola, defense attorney, asked the young man why details were left out of his grand jury testimony and different from what he told Children and Youth Services.
The alleged victim told Amendola, "I was just a kid, I was scared and embarrassed."
Amendola asked him if he ever said he was going to get a lot of money and a big house and nice car out of this.
"No," Victim No. 1 said. "But haven't all teenagers wished for a nice house and nice car?"
Yesterday, former assistant football coach Mike McQueary was also called to the stand.
McQueary told McGettigan about the occasion when he walked into the Penn State locker room in 2001 and heard a "smacking sound, skin-on-skin," he said.
McQueary said he was embarrassed that he was walking in on someone, but he never expected what he found.
He said when he opened his locker, he looked over his shoulder and could see into a mirror, which looked into the shower and he saw a young boy, possibly 10 or 12 with his hands to the wall and Sandusky up against the boy.
"I looked into the shower and saw the same sight, with Sandusky's arms wrapped around the boy's waist," he testified.
He said he put his sneakers in his locker and slammed the locker door, "as a way of saying ‘someone is here, break it up.'"
McQueary said after he did that, he looked into the shower again, and both the boy and Sandusky had turned and were looking at him, about three or four feet apart.
McQueary said he then left the locker room and went to his office. He said he was in the locker room for probably a minute or less.
When he got to his office, McQueary said he called his dad, told him he saw something bad and his dad told him to leave and go to the house.
McQueary and his dad called a family friend, a doctor, and they discussed the situation.
McQueary said he was told to tell his boss, Joe Paterno, which he did the very next morning.
McQueary said after he spoke with Paterno, he did not do anything else, but waited for something to happen.
He said about a week later he got a call from (Penn State athletic director) Tim Curley and (former Penn State Vice President) Gary Schultz and met them at Curley's office at the Bryce Jordan Center.
"In my mind, I spoke to law enforcement," McQueary said, noting that he was under the impression Schultz was the head of the police department.
During cross examination, Karl Rominger, a defense attorney, tried to pick apart McQueary's testimony and his statements to the grand jury.
He asked why McQueary did not call the cops, and McQueary said he was in shock and needed advice and trusted his dad.
"I didn't hear anything verbal, just the slapping sound," he said. "I left that room believing the boy was being (sexually assaulted)."
Rominger questioned why McQueary told the grand jury the child looked to be 8-13 years old, but he testified yesterday he was 10-12.
"You want to argue about 9, 10, 11 or 12," McQueary said. "The fact is, he (the boy) was a minor he (Sandusky) had sex with."
The boy McQueary saw Sandusky with in the shower is listed as alleged Victim No. 2, but is still unidentified.
McQueary was on the stand until 3:55 p.m. when the trial broke for the day.
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