Despite his repeated efforts to delay it, Jerry Sandusky's child molestation trial was set to begin with the start of jury selection , as prosecutors and his defense lawyers choose 12 people from the area around Penn State to decide his guilt or innocence.
Sandusky's lawyer said the 68-year-old, who gained fame as defensive coordinator for the university's vaunted football team, where he won two national championships, would be in the courtroom Tuesday for the start of a trial that is expected to last several weeks.
Opening statements are likely to be made Monday, but first the jurors have to be chosen, a process that could pose a monumental challenge in a region thick with Penn State alumni, employees and football fans.
Sandusky is charged with 52 criminal counts for alleged abuse of 10 boys over 15 years, allegations he has repeatedly denied.
Among the expected witnesses are several young men who contend they were abused by Sandusky. Prosecutors have claimed that Sandusky groomed boys he met through a charity he founded for at-risk youth, then attacked them, in some cases in his own home or inside university athletic facilities.
Among the challenges for jury selection are the extraordinarily heavy news coverage of the scandal and the wide reach of The Second Mile, the youth charity Sandusky founded in 1977.
"It's going to be a very, very difficult chore to pick a jury in that community," said Brian McMonagle, a Philadelphia defense attorney unconnected to the case.
Whether those Penn State ties work to the advantage of the defense or the prosecution remains to be seen.
Prosecutors, though, were so concerned that they asked Judge John Cleland to bring in prospective jurors from another county.
"The life of the university and Centre County are inextricably intertwined, both philosophically and economically," prosecutor Joseph McGettigan wrote. "To ask members of that community to . insulate themselves from the institution which informs so many aspects of their lives is asking too much."
Cleland rejected the request but said he would reconsider if a jury isn't selected in a reasonable amount of time.
The proceedings will begin with a pool of 200 prospective jurors out of a county of 154,000 people. They will be questioned about their feelings about Sandusky and the case, and about any personal ties to the opposing lawyers or to the defendant, who for more than 30 years ran The Second Mile, which will play a prominent role in the prosecution's case.
The defense opposed bringing in an out-of-town jury.
Edward Schwartz, a jury consultant in Lexington, Mass., said he suspects the defense will try to shape the case in such a way that the jury will take out its frustration about the firing of longtime head coach Joe Paterno in the aftermath of Sandusky's arrest.
There's risk in such a strategy, however. The jury could instead blame Sandusky for "single-handedly bringing down the reputation of an institution they love and they feel an attachment to," Schwartz said.
Paterno was dismissed in November for not acting more decisively in 2001 after a member of his coaching staff reported seeing Sandusky in the locker room showers with a boy. Paterno died of lung cancer in January at age 85.
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