Jury selection began Tuesday at the Centre County Courthouse for the upcoming trial of former assistant Penn State football coach Jerry Sandusky. Sandusky is charged with 52 counts of sexual abuse, which prosecutors say involved males he met through his charity The Second Mile. Follow along for updates throughout the day from Bellefonte at the start of jury selection in the Jerry Sandusky trial. Check back with collegian.psu.edu for more coverage as the case continues.
Wednesday, 4:03 p.m. A full jury of 12 jurors and four alternates has been chosen for Jerry Sandusky's trial, which is scheduled to begin Monday.
The three final alternates selected this afternoon include: a middle-aged woman who said she is not a heavy news consumer, a Penn State alumnus in his 50s who said he is a big football fan and a woman in her 60s who said she doesn't believe much of what's in the media.
Wednesday, 1:11 p.m. Four more jurors have been selected Wednesday, bringing the total to 12 jurors and one alternate. Three more alternates still have yet to be chosen. All of those selected so far today have ties to Penn State.
Juror 10 is a woman who is an administrative assistant in the university's engineering department, while Juror 11 worked as a dance instructor in the university's continuing education program. This woman is in her 30s and has a son, and she also said she knew someone who was on one of the potential witness lists.
Juror 12 has been a professor at Penn State for more than 20 years and is in her 50s or 60s. She said she had a professional relationship with both former Penn State President Graham Spanier and current Penn State President Rodney Erickson, who previously served as executive vice president and provost. She also said Sandusky spoke at her graduation, but she did not know him personally. She did not specify whether this ceremony was at the high school or college level.
The first alternate is a woman who is a 2007 Penn State graduate.
Meanwhile, Sandusky's attorney Joe Amendola asked for a continuance of the trial because he believes the gag order was violated when an attorney for the person called "Victim 4" spoke to reporters about when his client would testify and about evidence that may be presented in the case. Senior Judge John Cleland denied Amendola's request.
Wednesday, 10:45 a.m. Forty more potential jurors went through phase two of questioning for Jerry Sandusky's trial, and in the end, 12 were excused.
The pool reporter who was present in the courtroom during the process said the majority of the potential jurors were excused for financial reasons or vacations that had already been paid for.
Among the total 40 who were questioned this morning, 10 were either Penn State employees or have close family members who work for the university. Eight of the potential jurors or one of their close family members volunteered at the Second Mile and 32 said they have children.
Fifteen people said they knew someone on the prosecution's potential witness list and 20 said they knew someone on the defense's potential witness list.
Cleland told jurors this morning that the trial will begin on Monday and is expected to end by the last day of June.
Tuesday, 6:11 p.m. Nine jurors, five men and four women, have been selected in the first day of jury selection for the Sandusky trial.
The five additional jurors selected during the afternoon session include a retired Penn State professor, a rising Penn State senior, a woman who is about 70 years old and previously worked as a school bus driver, a State College engineer who has no connection to Penn State and a teacher at Bellefonte Area High School who has undergraduate and masters degrees from Penn State.
A full jury consisting of 12 jurors and four alternates is expected to be completely selected tomorrow.
Tuesday, 1:30 p.m. Three jurors, two women and one man, have been selected for Jerry Sandusky's trial.
The first juror is a middle-aged white woman who is employed at Walmart.
The second juror is a 24-year-old man whose father is a Penn State employee.
The third juror is a middle-aged-to-older white woman whose husband worked in the same medical practice as Mike McQueary's father, John. She is also a long-time Penn State season ticket holder.
The pool reporters for phase three said Joe Amendola wanted the third juror struck, but after conferring with Sandusky, they decided she could be a fair juror.
Five were struck for cause. One was struck because he or she volunteered for The Second Mile and another was struck because he or she already had a fixed opinion about the case.
Jury selection is continuing today, but 100 potential jurors were sent home and told to return tomorrow morning.
Tuesday, 11:09 a.m. Five jurors have been excused due to medical reasons or other commitments, such as a family vacation that was already paid for. Now, about 35 jurors will go on to phase three of jury selection.
In the selection, jurors were asked a series of questions, such as their occupation, how many children they have and if they are married.
Potential jurors were also asked questions about their relationships with various entities and people involved in the case.
Two jurors said they had previously volunteered with The Second Mile and four said they know Sandusky personally.
According to pool reporters, many potential jurors have some connection to Penn State or The Second Mile.
The jury pool was also read lists of potential witnesses from the defense and the prosecution. Prosecutors had a list of about two dozen people who could potentially be called as witnesses while the defense presented about five dozen names.
Possible witnesses include Sue and Jay Paterno, Mike and John McQueary, and Sara Ganim, a reporter from The Harrisburg Patriot-News who won a Pulitzer Prize for her reporting on the Sandusky case.
The list also included the names of some who said Sandusky abused them, which were also read to jurors to see if they had any connections to them.
Tuesday, 10:21 a.m. Judge Cleland announced today during jury selection that the jury will not be sequestered, but he is trusting them not to read newspapers, blogs or other things about the case.
He also said that jurors will not be excused for an "inconvenience."
"It could be you have more important responsibilities than being here for this trial, but you're going to have a hard time explaining to me what they are," Cleland told potential jurors.
The judge addressed the group for about 20 minutes, according to the first round of pool reporters who were inside of selection.
Now, the second phase of selection has begun and a group of 40 jurors is being questioned.
Tuesday, 9:13 a.m. Phase one of jury selection has begun. There are 220 potential jurors. They will be taken in groups of 40 into phase two and then one-by-one into the third phase of jury selection.
A representative from the Pennsylvania Association of Broadcasters said there was a meeting in closed quarters that delayed the start of the selection this morning.
Tuesday, 8:36 a.m. With jury selection scheduled to begin in the Jerry Sandusky case today, the former assistant football coach, his attorneys and the prosecutors in the case have all arrived at the Centre County Courthouse. Potential jurors have also filed inside, lining up early this morning under rainy skies in Bellefonte. Jury selection was scheduled to start at 8:30.
