The big question at the Jerry Sandusky sex abuse trial Tuesday morning is if Sandusky himself will take the stand. As he arrived for court, defense attorney Joe Amendola joked, you’ll have to “stay tuned.”
Newswatch 16 asked Amendola as he was entering the Centre County Courthouse Tuesday morning if his client will testify. Amendola’s answer has a lot of people buzzing.
“Stay tuned, it’s like a soap opera,” he responded. “If I tell you it takes all the excitement out of it.”
When asked which soap opera, Amendola first responded “General Hospital.” Then he said “All My Children.”
Amendola hinted during his opening statement last week that his client will take the stand in the case all about the abuse of children, but he hasn’t said much more about it since then.
Prosecutors rested their case Monday after presenting a week worth of damaging, graphic testimony about abuse at the hands of Sandusky.
When the defense took over Monday morning, only a handful of character witnesses were presented. Even though Monday was billed as the day the defense began, the big story out of the trial remained with the prosecution. The final witness for prosecutors was the mother of alleged Victim 9 from Snyder County. She cried on the stand as she said she felt responsible for her son’s alleged abuse.
Some legal analysts have said Sandusky taking the stand is really the defense’s only hope. Others have said it is a very big risk because that opens him up to grilling by the prosecution on cross-examination.
In the words of Sandusky’s attorney, “stay tuned.”
