On Oct. 9, 2012, close to four months after his conviction, former Penn State assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky will receive his final sentencing in a scandal that rocked the very foundations of Penn State University.
Sandusky, 68, was convicted in June 2012 of 45 counts of sexual abuse involving 10 different boys. These incidents all happened over a span of 15 years, some even taking place on PSU’s campus.
It is highly unlikely that Sandusky will be paroled, as the maximum penalties that he can receive for his offenses total more than 300 years behind bars. This means Sandusky will most likely live out the rest of his life and die within prison walls.
Despite the evidence against him, he continues to maintain his innocence and his lawyer said Sandusky will attempt to appeal his conviction.
The victims are also believed to be taking part in the hearing, mostly as a way to assure that justice will be reached for every one of them in the best possible way.
At least three of the victims are in the process of suing PSU, and while the confirmed number of victims stands at 10, Sandusky’s lawyers put the number of potential victims around 20. The university plans to settle with the victims as quietly as possible, in hopes to soothe many of the stresses they and their families have been through over the years.
Sandusky’s actions led to many repercussions for the formerly esteemed university, including the loss of Graham Spanier as president and the firing of the head coach of the Penn State Nittany Lions football team, Joe Paterno.
Both are said to have helped cover up information that would have led to stopping Sandusky at a much earlier date. The university’s athletic department has also suffered a great blow, including a ban from bowl games for four years, a loss of all victories from 1998 through 2011 and massive scholarship reductions, handed down by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). The NCAA chose these harsh terms as punishment to teach PSU a tough lesson.
Defense lawyers are also looking to split the cases against two more people involved in the scandal. Former athletic director Tim Curley and retired vice president of PSU, Gary Schultz, are both charged with failing to report suspected child abuse and lying to a grand jury.
Both have each entered a plea of not guilty. Curley and Schultz are accused of hiding Sandusky’s actions in order to protect the university.
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