Read all about it
BELLEFONTE, Pa. -- Nine people were chosen to sit in judgment of former Penn State University assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky on the first day of jury selection, and at least four of them have direct ties to the university.
Among those selected were a retired Penn State professor, a rising senior in the fall who works for the athletic department, a man whose father has worked at the school for 30 years, and a 2003 graduate who now teaches high school in Bellefonte.
Follow me below the squiggle please
More from the PG article
Early on in the process, the judge made it clear that just because a member of the jury pool knew someone involved in the case casually, that would not automatically exclude them from consideration.
"We're in Centre County," he said. "We're in rural Pennsylvania. There are these [connections] that cannot be avoided."
The full article goes over the connections of all the jurors to Penn State. It is quite stunning.
How anyone thinks this will be a fair trial and not more coverups by the locals is beyond me. Now before people raise accusations, I will now follow with proof as to past coverups and why they happened.
ABC News Nov 9 2011
Until the Sandusky scandal exploded in Happy Valley, the prevailing notion was Joe Paterno's Nittany Lions program was squeaky clean, at least by NCAA Division One Standards.
But Alison Kiss, a nationally known campus victim's advocate of Security on Campus, Inc., says in recent years she has handled two alleged rape cases from Penn State. Both victims name football players as their attackers, but she claims cover-ups, not justice, was the result.
"I've had experiences with Penn State. I've worked with at least two victims of sexual assaults that involved Penn State football players in the past," Kiss said.
Kiss said concerning those cases she was not impressed with Paterno's response.
Here we have a nationally known advocate for victims bringing a situation to Paterno's attention & you see she was not impressed with paterno's response and she claims a cover-up
Another PSU coverup
Hate mail to black students and a death, all swept away by PSU
Assata Richards, who was a leader of the Village student movement to increase diversity initiatives at Penn State, was at the 2001 meeting with Wolf and Paterno and today still remembers the cold response he gave them about the death threats.
“We asked him to talk to the players because we were concerned about their safety,” says Richards, “and he said in that meeting that he would never do anything to put the university in a bad light. So we said, ‘Then you are choosing the university over students lives.’”
Wolf was chilled by Paterno’s response also. She says Paterno told them, “I’m only a football coach.”
Only a football coach? Really? Now before people ask why are you focusing a lot of this on Paterno follow to the next clip
Sports Illustrated take on the real power at PSU
At Penn State, Paterno had all the power. President Graham Spanier and athletic director Tim Curley were technically his bosses, but they held as much sway over him as the guys selling hot dogs at Beaver Stadium on Saturdays. We know this most vividly because in 2004, Spanier and Curley tried to push out the struggling 77-year-old coach, and Paterno told them ... no.
That distorted dynamic is why Sandusky was allowed free reign of the Penn State football complex years after the first account of sexual molestation surfaced. Who was going to stop him if not Paterno?
Football & PSU began and ended with Joe Paterno. And we can see from the above illustrations that the program over victims & bigotry was more important to Paterno and PSU by extension.
Now why do I think even after Paterno's death that his legacy and "the program" mean more to the people & students of State College (percentage wise not overall)?
Let us remember the riot that ensued on the campus of Penn State. A riot is an extreme act of violence venting anger. Where the students angered over Sandusky having access to vulnerbale kids on the campus? NO! They rioted over the firing of a football coach!
Now I ask the vital question here. Why wasn't a change of venue granted?
In a case like this where the judge admits: (Returning to top quote listed in diary)
Early on in the process, the judge made it clear that just because a member of the jury pool knew someone involved in the case casually, that would not automatically exclude them from consideration.
"We're in Centre County," he said. "We're in rural Pennsylvania. There are these [connections] that cannot be avoided."
WHY DO YOU KEEP THE TRIAL THERE?!!
There is sure to be plenty of people who would protect the program at all costs (which was done in the past or this wouldn't have lasted for as long as it had) that a fair trial can not be guarenteed. There is a high risk of a juror with a mindset of innocent to protect PSU.
I leave you readers with this one quote from a juror
The college student, who wore a Penn State archery shirt and played on an all-star team with one of the potential witnesses as his coach, said he believed serving on the jury would be hard.
How can you have a juror who may know a witness!!!!
Lack of change of venue = WHAT A JOKE!
11:23 AM PT: 3 more and an alternate added
People chosen today include:
• a middle-aged woman with two daughters and four grandchildren, who has worked for 4-1/2 years as an administrative assistant at Penn State in the Department of Energy and Material Engineering.
• a woman in her mid-30s with a 6-year-old son who teaches dance in the continuing education program at Penn State
• a woman in her 50s or 60s who is a professor at Penn State who has two sons, aged 14 and 16
The alternate is a woman in her 30s who graduated from Penn State in 2007.
1:46 PM PT: According to media pool reports, the final three alternates include a middle-aged woman with no children; an older man who is a big Penn State football fan and whose wife is the director of the Penn State program, Upward Bound; and an older woman who moved away from the area when she was 19 and recently returned.
Mr. Sandusky actively told one of his attorneys that he wanted the third alternate on his panel, and even constructed a plan to use remaining peremptory strikes to make that happen.
Last selections