Jerry Sandusky

Jerry Sandusky, the former Penn State assistant football coach  convicted of child sex abuse , will be sentenced on Oct. 9, the judge in the case has ordered. Sandusky, 68, faces hundreds of years in prison after he was convicted of 45 counts of abusing 10 boys over the  course of 15 years. The former coach, who has been in jail since the June verdict, has maintained his innocence. Judge John Cleland, who presided over the much-publicized trial, scheduled a hearing for 9 a.m. on Oct. 9 at the courthouse in Bellefonte, Penn., to determine if Sandusky should be classified as a sexually violent predator.

The defense in the Jerry Sandusky trial continued to present its character witnesses Tuesday, each testifying that the former Penn State football coach who is charged with sexually abusing children is a good person and a "class act. " Neighbors, friends and former professors at Penn State testified that Sandusky is a good man and father figure. The witnesses are part of the defense strategy to rehabilitate Sandusky's image after more than four days of prosecution testimony that portrayed the former coach as a predatory pedophile.

“There has been love in my heart,” Jerry Sandusky once wrote to one of his victims. “My wish is that you care and have love in your heart. Love never ends.” That declaration was among the chilling comments contained in letters Sandusky wrote over time to boys he molested. The letters were released by prosecutors after jurors began deliberating on Thursday. During the trial they were were projected on a screen for jurors to read. The jury convicted the former Penn State assistant football coach of 45 counts of sexual abuse crimes Friday night.

The man whose complaints led to the child sexual abuse investigation of Jerry Sandusky tearfully told a Pennsylvania jury Tuesday that the former Penn State assistant football coach kissed, fondled and engaged in oral sex with him in the basement of the adult's home. On the second day of testimony in the case against Sandusky, the second witness -- known in court documents as Victim One -- said that when he was a boy the former coach would give him gifts and make him feel special.

Former Penn State football coach Jerry Sandusky was sentenced Tuesday to a minimum of 30 years in prison, meaning he will likely spend the rest of his life behind bars in a child sex-abuse scandal that roiled the nation and the shook the sports powerhouse. The sentence of 30 years to 60 years in prison was far less than the 400 years that Judge John Cleland could have imposed, but it means that Sandusky would be almost 100 years old before he has any chance of being released.

The Jerry Sandusky trial is moving to its conclusion with the jury expected to begin deliberations Thursday after the prosecution and defense summarize their cases. Here is a primer into the case that shook up Penn State University and the world of big-time college athletics. Who is Jerry Sandusky? Sandusky, 68, is the retired assistant football coach at Penn State University who also founded the Second Mile, a charity for at-risk children, in 1977. He was arrested last year and charged with sexually abusing 10 boys connected to the charity during a 15-year period.

Three of the 51 criminal counts against former Penn State football coach Jerry Sandusky were thrown out Thursday morning as the lawyers prepared to turn over the child sex-abuse case to the jury. In a morning ruling, Judge John Cleland tossed out three of the charges, leaving 48 for the jury of seven women and five men to consider. Two counts of involuntary deviate sexual intercourse involving the person known as Victim 4 were thrown out because he testified that Sandusky attempted to penetrate him but did not say the former coach had succeeded.

It has cost Penn State almost $17 million in fees alone to deal with the fallout from the Jerry Sandusky child sex-abuse scandal, and the tab is expected to grow by tens of millions of dollars before the meter stops clicking. Sandusky, who is reportedly writing a book while in jail awaiting sentencing on 45 charges that he sexually abused boys , is a former defensive football coach at Penn State. Some of the abuse took place in the shower room of the university's football training facility, where Sandusky would take boys who were clients of the charity he started.

Jury selection in the Jerry Sandusky child sex-abuse case headed into its second day Wednesday with the defense so far getting a jury with the strong local roots that it had sought. At least four of the nine jurors already selected have some relationship to Penn State University, where Sandusky was a well-known assistant football coach. The panel includes a student at the school, a retired professor and an alumnus. One of the four women chosen has been a Penn State football season ticket holder for decades, according to media pool reports of the jury selection process.

A 19-year-old man has filed a complaint with state police alleging he was sexually abused by Jerry Sandusky after the former coach gave him liquor on the Penn State campus in 2004, the accuser's lawyer said Tuesday. Charles Schmidt said the client, whom he did not identify, came to his law firm about three weeks ago, after Sandusky was charged with sexually abusing eight children over a 15-year period. Joseph Amendola , Sandusky's lawyer, said he was not familiar with the allegations Schmidt was making.