BlueWhiteIllustrated.com - Column: Painful second day of testimony

June 13, 2012

Nate Bauer
BlueWhiteIllustrated.com Editor

BELLEFONTE, Pa. - The second day of testimony in the Jerry Sandusky child-sex abuse trial proved no easier than the first.

The Commonwealth's first witness of the day, commonly referred to as Victim No. 1 in the original grand jury presentment of finding, offered an often painful and at times, downright heartbreaking, account of his alleged sexual encounters with Sandusky.

Trying to collect himself between long pauses, sobs, and flat-out crying fits, the now 18-year old recounted seemingly every last detail of the sexual molestation forced on him over the span of years. While much of the testimony was similar to the experiences of the trial's first witness, the locations had changed.

Rather than locales that included the East Area Locker Rooms and Lasch Building on Penn State's campus, Tuesday's alleged victim testified of abuse in the basement of Sandusky's home, along with an incident at his school, and swimming excursions at the Hilton Garden Inn near Sandusky's home in Lemont, Pa.

That is, until Mike McQueary's testimony Tuesday afternoon.

Like a recurring dream, the horrors of what McQueary allegedly witnessed in the Lasch Building support staff locker room, along with the supposed failings of a few men to take action, burst back into the collective consciousness of every individual inside Courtroom No. 1, the Annex across the street, and the Penn State University community as a whole.

First, the horrors:

Under questioning from the prosecution, McQueary reiterated the details of his grand jury testimony, as well as the testimony he gave during the preliminary hearing in the perjury case of former Penn State athletic director Tim Curley and senior vice president for finance and business, Gary Schultz, perjury case.

Point after point, McQueary's testimony was largely consistent, save for semantics that at one point led to a fiery verbal exchange between him and defense attorney Karl Rominger.

An effective difference Tuesday, however, came as the prosecution showed photographs from inside the support staff locker room. One photo was of McQueary's former locker, while another, taken from the vantage point of that locker, was of a mirror, the reflection of the nearby showers in full view.

Next, another photo was from McQueary's alleged second position that night, moments later, three paces to right, which he described as giving him an even better view of the showers, and Sandusky with a prepubescent boy engaged in sexual activity. The third vantage point, and photograph, was looking directly into the showers.

Other photos were taken inside the shower showing McQueary standing outside the shower in all three positions, as well as mannequins arranged inside the shower the way McQueary had described them in the testimony.

The testimony was chilling.

"Skin on skin slapping sounds. Yes. Sex," he said at one point. Then, "Absent of seeing a penis entering a rectum, I'm sure they were having sex."

And, finally, almost as an aside to another question, "The fact is he had sex with a minor boy."

Next, the alleged failings:

Like his earlier testimonies and written statements, McQueary described his early Saturday morning meeting with deceased former Penn State football coach Joe Paterno, along with his private meeting with Curley and Shultz more than a week later at the Bryce Jordan Center.

McQueary reiterated that he did not go into gross detail with Paterno about what he saw, but he said he made it clear to Paterno that it was sexual in nature.

"I made sure Coach Joe knew it was sexual, as he has testified to," McQueary said. "(He) knew it was sexual."

Joined with McQueary's insistence that Curley and Schultz were perfectly aware of the gravity of what he'd witnessed, reports from NBC News and KDKA the past two days only further questions that are still left unanswered months later.

Although the healing process at Penn State is far from complete, Tuesday's testimony should start to conclude at least one aspect of this tragic time in the history of the university. Though the Louis Freeh-led report and civil suits against the university remain on the horizon, each successive day of testimony in the Sandusky trial represents a turned page, painful as it may be.

Testimony resumes Wednesday morning at 9 a.m.

Penn State NEWS

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