Sandusky trial: nine jurors selected, three (and alternates) to go

Connections to Penn State weren't necessarily keeping prospective jurors from being chosen Tuesday to decide former assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky's fate on child sexual abuse charges.

Several of the nine jurors who have been seated have links to Penn State as students, alumni or supporters.

By Genaro C. Armas and Mark Scolforo, The Associated Press / June 5, 2012 

Connections to Penn State weren't necessarily keeping prospective jurors from being chosen Tuesday to decide former assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky's fate on child sexual abuse charges.

The jurors and four alternates could be selected as early as Wednesday, with opening statements not scheduled to begin until Monday. Sandusky is fighting dozens of criminal charges that he abused 10 boys over a 15-year period.
In the first questioning of 40 prospective jurors, about half said they or immediate family members worked at Penn State or were university retirees. One woman rented apartments to college students. Four knew Sandusky, a former Penn State assistant football coach. Two knew his wife.
Sandusky's lawyer won the right to have jurors chosen from the local community, and prosecutors had concerns that Centre County might prove to be nearly synonymous with Penn State. Sandusky had helped build the football team's reputation as a defensive powerhouse known as Linebacker U, his arrest toppled Joe Paterno from the head coaching position just months before his death from cancer and prosecutors say some of the attacks on children occurred inside university showers.
One of the first jurors to be seated wasn't just a season ticketholder since the 1970s: She said John McQueary — a possible trial witness and the father of a key witness — once worked with her husband.   READ MORE