Sandusky Defense Cites Personality Disorder

Files motion related to alleged love letters as trial begins
By Kate Seamons,  Newser Staff
Posted Jun 11, 2012 11:50 AM CDT
Sandusky Defense Cites Personality Disorder
Former Penn State University assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky arrives at the Centre County Courthouse for opening statements in his trial on 52 counts of child sexual abuse.   (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)

The Jerry Sandusky trial kicked off today, with, notably, the defense addressing the love letters ABC News claims Sandusky sent to "Victim Four." The Patriot-News reports that his team has filed a motion to "provide a fair explanation" for the alleged letters. The motion states that a psychologist will vouch for the fact that "the content and nature" of the letters are in line with what someone with Histrionic Personality Disorder would produce. In other trial news:

  • Judge John Cleland spent 25 minutes instructing the jury, and addressed concerns about the Penn State-heavy pool, describing the jury as "a cross-section of the citizens of Centre County ... a jury of the defendant's peers."
  • The prosecution showed jurors the photos and first names of eight of the 10 alleged victims—the ones who will, at some point, take the stand. Prosecutor Joe McGettigan called Sandusky a "predatory pedophile" who did not "select" but "discovered" his victims via his Second Mile charity. McGettigan gave one example of what is to come: testimony regarding a hotel encounter on a bowl trip in which Sandusky allegedly "began to coerce oral sex" from an alleged victim.
  • The defense's approach: It told the jury it plans to break down each case individually, revealing that the accusers started singing a new tune after being questioned, changing initial stories of no abuse or "groping" to tales of "all-out sex." He also said the accusers "had a financial interest in pursuing this case."
(More Jerry Sandusky stories.)

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