Jerry Sandusky Trial: Will Jury's Ties to Penn State Impact the Case?
Today, the opening arguments started in the case against former Penn State assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky, who has been charged with sexually abusing 10 boys over the course of 15 years.
Among the jury that was chosen is a Penn State ticket holder, a graduate of Penn State, a current Penn State senior, a retired Penn State professor, and a current Penn State dance instructor. Could this affect the case?
Former prosecutor Jason Friedman and defense attorney Chip Merlin weighed in on what they think will happen in this case on today’s Happening Now.
Friedman believes the jury is as it should be, and said it is representative of the community where this crime occurred and where the trial is being held. “You really have a nice diverse jury in terms of gender makeup, you have people who are working, you have people that are retired, a couple of students, as you mentioned, you have some people with children and grandchildren, some without. I really think as it should be, a jury is representative of a community,” he added.
Merlin said that the truth of the matter when it comes to this particular jury is that this can’t be good for the prosecution because the defense is going to try to show the jury how much Jerry Sandusky loves Penn State since a lot of the jury has ties to the school.
Merlin continued, “There's a possibility that these accusers are going to bring civil actions against Penn State later for not overseeing Sandusky better. So, Sandusky and Penn State vs. all these accusers is how this might get set up based upon the selection of this jury.”
Watch the full interview from Happening Now:
