newjerseynewsroom.com

BY GINA SCALA

NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM

The adopted son of Jerry Sandusky was prepared to testify against the former Penn State assistant football coach in the child sex abuse case, saying he was a victim, too.

Matt Sandusky’s revelation came shortly after jurors began deliberating the 48 charges against the man who adopted him as an adult.

“During the trial, Matt Sandusky contacted us and requested our advice and assistance in arranging a meeting with prosecutors to disclose for the first time in this case that he is a victim of Jerry Sandusky's abuse," Andrew Shubin and Justine Andronici said in the statement. "At Matt's request, we immediately arranged a meeting between him and the prosecutors and investigators.”

Matt, 33, is one of six children Sandusky and his wife, Dottie, adopted. They met through The Second Mile, a charity Sandusky started for at-risk youth. The former Penn State assistant football coach is accused of sexually abusing 10 boys over a 15-year period.

In November 2011, Matt Sandusky’s ex-wife, Jill Jones, obtained a restraining order forbidding the children from sleeping over at their grandparents' home. She alleged Sandusky had "inappropriately touched" her son.

About the same time, details surfaced of Matt Sandusky’s attempted suicide just four months after first going to live with the couple in 1995.

"The probation department has some serious concerns about the juvenile's safety and his current progress in placement with the Sandusky family," according to court records supplied to The Associated Press by his birth mother, Debra Long.

Despite those concerns, probation and child welfare officials recommended continued placement with the Sandusky family, and the judge overseeing his case agreed.

Sandusky has repeatedly denied the allegations against him; claiming the 48 charges are part of a witch hunt initiated by law enforcement officers, who coached his accusers.

Sequestered during deliberations, the jury was under orders from Judge John Cleland to ponder only the case placed in their hands.

The jury, seven women and five men, deliberated for more than eight hours June 21; retiring after asking to rehear the testimony of former graduate assistant coach Mike McQueary, who said he saw Sandusky abusing a young boy in the showers at Penn State’s football training facility.

Cleland said jurors, nine of whom have close ties to Penn State, would take a couple of hours Friday to listen again to testimony McQueary, a key witness for the prosecution. They will also rehear the testimony of the friend he talked to that night, Dr. Jonathan Dranov, a defense witness; who described a less graphic version that he said McQueary told him in 2001. The testimony was being read out loud from transcripts.

Sandusky did not take the stand on his own behalf. But shortly after his arrest in November 2011, Sandusky agreed to an interview with Bob Costas on NBC’s “Rock Center,” providing answers that appeared to stun even the seasoned sports journalist.

Asked if he was sexually attracted to boys, Sandusky told Costas: "Sexually attracted, you know, I, I enjoy young people. I, I love to be around them. ... No, I'm not sexually attracted to young boys."

Senior Deputy Attorney General Joseph McGettigan III seized on that in closing arguments, saying: "I would think that the automatic response, if someone asks you if you're a criminal, a pedophile, a child molester, or anything along those lines, would be: `You're crazy. No. Are you nuts?"'