http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/1206/08/ijvm.01.htmlJANE VELEZ-MITCHELL
Pop Culture Connection with Butcher of Montreal?
Aired June 8, 2012 - 19:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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Plus, Penn State`s Happy Valley braces for a litany of sordid sexual allegations. Legendary former coach Jerry Sandusky is accused of sexually abusing at least ten boys. As his accusers get ready to take the stand and face him in court, will Sandusky`s alleged love letters to boys surface as the smoking gun?
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is a case about a sexual predator.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Shock waves hit the community of State College, Pennsylvania.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How many more children do you expect to come forward, Jerry?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Fifty-two counts of sexual abuse from allegations dating back to 1995.
JERRY SANDUSKY, FORMER PENN STATE ASSISTANT FOOTBALL COACH: All of a sudden these people turn on me.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Allegations he raped one boy in the shower at Penn State.
JOE AMENDOLA, ATTORNEY FOR SANDUSKY: People said to me, "How could you let him say he was in the shower with the kids?" How could we not let him say that? He was.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And he has entered a plea of not guilty.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And a pair of university big wigs are accused of covering it all up.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Serious questions this morning about how the legendary leader of the Nittany Lions, Joe Paterno, handled this case when it crossed his desk nine years ago.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Joe Paterno is no longer the head football coach, effective immediately.
JOE PATERNO, FORMER PENN STATE FOOTBALL COACH: Thanks. Pray for those victims.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: A child rape trial set to get under way as Jerry Sandusky`s last-ditch effort to avoid charges denied. The legendary former Penn State assistant football coach accused of sexually assaulting ten boys over 14 years.
Just a few hours ago a judge rejected all the defense reasons to have the 52 charges thrown out. He`s facing 52 charges.
Eight of Sandusky`s accusers are scheduled to take the stand. We expect to hear riveting testimony about alleged love letters from Sandusky, alleged rapes inside campus showers and claims the coach used his Second Mile charity to groom young boys. When Sandusky was arrested last fall, and iconic coach Joe Paterno was fired, the small town of State College erupted in chaos.
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VELEZ-MITCHELL: Opening statements start Monday, and we`re going to be all over it on this show.
Two months after Paterno was fired he died of lung cancer. When Sandusky responded on the horrifying allegations on NBC`s "Rock Center," he just added fuel to the fire. Listen to him.
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SANDUSKY: I have horsed around with kids. I`ve showered after workouts. I have hugged them, and I have touched their leg without intent of sexual contact, but...
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VELEZ-MITCHELL: A jury of Sandusky`s peers has now been seated. I mean peers, literally. About half of these jurors have connections to Penn State. One of them even has ties to the state`s star witness. How on earth can this jury be impartial?
Straight out to Lauren Book, sexual abuse survivor and victims` advocate. You testified against your nanny. You said she abused you for years.
Give us insight into what these alleged victims go through as they take the stand and face this very powerful man they once idolized, who they say groomed and sexually abused them?
LAUREN BOOK, VICTIMS ADVOCATE: Jane, this is a very big day for these survivors. It`s their day in court and a really scary day because they`re going to be facing the man that have been in their nightmares for years and years and years. It`s a scary day and I do hope they get their day in court. I can`t imagine that six of the jurors have ties to Penn State.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: That disturbs you?
BOOK: It does. I don`t know how they`re going to get -- you know, if I was the state I would not be happy about it. If I was one of those victims I wouldn`t be happy about it either.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Yes. It`s a small town and while you might say in a global village, a change of venue doesn`t mean anything, this is a very -- I think there`s a lot of questions surrounding this jury makeup.
Now this is arguably the biggest scandal to ever hit college sports. The controversy rocked this small college town where Penn State -- you know, football is king, obviously.
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VELEZ-MITCHELL: Let`s take a look at the 16 jurors including four alternates; You have ten women and six men. Eight of the 16 jurors have Penn State ties, among them a student, an alum, two professors and two employees.
Juror number 3 has a direct connection to the state`s star witness. Her husband works with Mike McQueary`s dad. We`re going to tell you about McQueary in a second.
Juror number five graduated from Penn State. Juror number 10 works at Penn State. Juror number 11 works there part-time; her husband works there full time. She also knows one of the potential witnesses. Juror number 12 has been a Penn State professor for 24 years.
Jeff Brown, criminal defense attorney, could this cut both ways? I mean obviously there`s fierce loyalty to this school, but could they make them want to punish Sandusky or just try to make it all go away by acquitting him?
JEFF BROWN, CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Well, I think that the prosecution is looking at this case and saying here is a revered figure, an icon that was brought down and at the end of the day the only person to really blame for that is not really Penn State. It`s Sandusky. I mean he`s the reason that Paterno got fired. He`s the reason Penn State is in this massive scandal.
So I think at the end of the day, the prosecution is thinking that these jurors what they feel that way -- this is the guy in this courtroom that caused all that, that caused this institution that they loved to be in the scandal.
I understand why they`re doing this. If I`m a defense lawyer, boy, this is the last I would want this case to be tried because of those very fears. I would want this case to be brought in front of people who had no idea who he was and which I can then argue that these are making this up. But a defense attorney -- this is a defense attorney nightmare.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Ok. We`ll have to wait and see. ABC News reports Sandusky wrote, quote, "creepy love letters to his accusers". The first witness scheduled to be victim number four and he`s writing about intimate letters, cards from Sandusky. He also gave the victim four gifts including a set of golf clubs. Sandusky he tried to explain his affection for children to the NewYorkTimes.com.
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JERRY SANDUSKY, ACCUSED MOLESTER: If I say no, I`m not attracted to boys, that`s not the truth because I`m attracted to young people, boys, girls.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, but not sexually. You`re attracted because you enjoy spending time.
SANDUSKY: Right. I enjoy -- that`s what I was trying to say. I enjoy spending time with young people. I enjoy spending time with people. I mean my two favorite groups are the elderly and the young.
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VELEZ-MITCHELL: I want to go to Bob Dvorchak, author of "Game Over" a very, very in-depth book about this entire scandal. First of all, boy, we`re all shaking our heads and going wow -- including Jeff Brown, criminal defense attorney -- when we`re listening to Jerry Sandusky. I mean can I say, to me personally, he sounds creepy. Was that the sense that you got after investigating this case?
BOB DVORCHAK, AUTHOR, "GAME OVER": Jane I think, if you wanted to draw on a blackboard the portrait of a pillar of a community, you take a famed football coach and the founder of a charity with a biblical name, the male Mother Teresa of central Pennsylvania and yet these allegations and his appearances fly in the face of that image. It`s a remarkable case all the way around.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Jeff Brown, you were when we were listening to Jerry Sandusky, you were going "wow, wow" -- why?
BROWN: What a nightmare. I mean those statements -- I mean you just play statement in front of anybody and I think everybody`s reaction is "Oh, my gosh, I can`t believe that he`s saying these things. I mean he`s almost admitting without actually saying it without saying the words "I abused them."
And if I`m the prosecutor, what a great piece of evidence; you play this in front of a jury and then you say here`s some other evidence that backs this up. He`s done. I mean when that came out and I just stepped back and said I cannot imagine a defense attorney that would ever in a million allow the client to go on and give an interview and say things like that. That is just -- it`s just unheard of for a good defense attorney.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Very quickly, Jeff Brown, do you think that kind of tape is going to be played in front of the jury?
BROWN: Oh, absolutely. The defendant`s statement -- that`s coming in. That`s the thing that people sometimes don`t grasp. There`s lots of hearsay rule, but a statement by the defendant that`s against his interest, that is coming in the courtroom, no matter who took it, no matter where it`s found, it comes in.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Lauren Book, abuse survivor and advocate. He tried to sort of breezily explain it away. Oh, I love children -- these love letters that victims say they got, those were innocuous. Is that a denial mechanism?
BOOK: Absolutely. And you know what? If there was a dictionary picture of what a child molester looks like, there would be Jerry Sandusky`s picture. It`s textbook, when you read the jury procurement -- the grand jury procurement. Grooming process, grooming process, grooming process -- he targeted these children. He went after them and hopefully, you know, he gets the sentence he deserves.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Sandusky`s attorney will try to discredit the star witness for the state, Mike McQueary. He`s the assistant football coach who says he saw Sandusky raping a boy in the showers. He`s also going to try to discredit some of the victims.
Norwood Young, sexual abuse survivor and author of "Getting Back to Me", what`s it going to be like when these young men take the stand and then they`re attacked by the defense attorneys -- and this is the star witness -- but he`s going to do the same thing to these victims, we hear.
NORWOOD YOUNG, SEXUAL ABUSE SURVIVOR: Jane, I feel so terribly bad for these victims because it`s like they`re going to be reliving the rape again. They`ve gone through many of their years trying to deal with this monstrosity and trying to deal with this emotionally and all of a sudden everything is going to be exposed. Their names, the actions, how things took place; and this will have to be done in specifics. So for the victims, I feel the terrible for them.
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