Prior to beginning a second day of deliberations the jury in the child sexual abuse trial of Jerry Sandusky reheard testimony of two witnesses.
It was like a read-through of a play, with one of the prosecutors reading for witness Mike McQueary, and then the lead defense attorney reading for another witness, Doctor Jonathan Dranov, who contradicted some of McQueary's testimony.
The testimony concerned allegations Sandusky assaulted a boy, dubbed "Victim Two" in the Penn State locker room showers.
McQueary,a former assistant football coach at Penn State, testified he saw the boy being assaulted in 2001. But Dranov testified he
spoke to McQueary the night of the alleged incident and McQueary didn't say he saw anything but rather heard sounds from the shower.
Throughout, several jurors appeared to be taking notes. Sandusky watched the different attorneys take turns reading testimony from the stand.
The read-through took about an hour and a half. The judge cautioned jurors these types of requests shouldn't become a habit.
"As a practical matter," he said, "we can't go back and essentially re-do the trial."
He instructed jurors to try to rely on their memory going forward.
The jury is considering 48 counts against Sandusky, who is charged with abusing 10 boys during a 15 year period.
During closing statements yesterday, defense attorneys said the ex-Penn State assistant football coach was himself the victim of young men seeking a financial payday. Prosecutors accused Sandusky of being a predatory pedophile.
The jurors deliberated for eight hours Thursday as new accusations of abuse were leveled against him by one of his adopted sons.
33-year-old Matt Sandusky issued a statement through attorneys that he had been abused by his adoptive father and was prepared to testify against him.
The belated disclosure is notable. For one thing, in closing arguments, the defense had tried to discredit the alleged victims by saying their initial hesitation to claim abuse indicates it never happened. However, the jury is sequestered and not hearing news reports.
But Kristen Houser, with the Pennsylvania Coalition Against Rape
advocacy group, says such an argument relies on misconceptions about how victims of child sexual abuse should behave.
"It is normal to wait a very long time before you tell your story. It is normal to tell it in phases and give a sanitized version up front and it takes many times to gain the trust to tell the full truth of what's really happened to you," Houser said.
Matt Sandusky's disclosure will not change the charges Jerry Sandusky is currently up against.
In the past, he's expressed support for his step-father.
