US college coach Sandusky jailed for life for child sex

BELLEFONTE - Agence France-Presse

Former Penn State assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky arrives at the Centre County Courthouse for sentencing in his child sex abuse case in Bellefonte. REUTERS Photo

Former Penn State American football coach Jerry Sandusky was sentenced  to between 30 and 60 years in prison today, in a high-profile child sex case that shocked the country.
 
At an emotional hearing featuring tearful statements from victims, Judge John Cleland warned 68-year-old Sandusky that he was imposing a prison term that had "the unmistakable impact of being for the rest of your life." Sandusky was convicted of 45 counts of child sex abuse in June, after a trial in which he was found guilty of molesting 10 children over a 15-year period, meeting them through a charity he founded for troubled youth.
 
The former coach, clad in a red prison scrubs with the words "Center County" on the back, gave a rambling, 20-minute statement during his sentencing hearing in Bellefonte, Pennsylvania.
 
He spoke about seeing visions on the dank walls of the prison where he has been incarcerated for the past 112 days since his conviction.
 
"I see me throwing thousands of kids in the air," Sandusky said. "And hundreds of water balloon battles." Sandusky protested his innocence and did not apologize to his victims.
 
Prosecutors said Sandusky had all the advantages that should have led to a productive life, but instead spent his time setting up a charity that he used as a vehicle for child sex abuse.
 
"Instead of being a productive citizen," assistant attorney general Joseph McGettigan told the court, "he worked diligently to construct a mechanism to acquire victims." Sandusky's attorney, Joe Amendola, asked Cleland to take into account his client's charity work.
 
Sandusky, who stood accused of molesting 10 boys between 1994 and 2008, allegedly recruited his young victims under the guise of a program he ran for abused and neglected youth.
 
Eight victims took the stand at his trial, offering graphic testimony about Sandusky's actions, on campus, in hotel rooms and at his home. Another coach told the court he saw Sandusky raping a boy in the showers at Penn State.
 
The headline-grabbing scandal has also tarnished the legacy of Pennsylvania State University, one of the country's most illustrious college football teams.
 
The scandal led to the downfall of Penn State's legendary head coach Joe Paterno, a national icon whose fall from grace came just a few weeks before his unexpected death from lung cancer in January at the age of 85.
 
Paterno was fired in November for failing to notify authorities when he was told Sandusky had been seen molesting a boy in the shower. The university's president, Graham Spanier, was also sacked.
 
Two other Penn State officials, Tim Curley and Gary Schultz, face trial for lying to a grand jury investigating Sandusky.