Found guilty in June on 45 counts related to the sex abuse/rape of young boys, convicted serial pedophile Jerry Sandusky will now likely spend the rest of his life behind bars.
At a sentencing hearing Tuesday morning, Centre County Court Judge John Cleland imposed a sentence of 30-60 years on Sandusky for his heinous crimes. As Sandusky is 68 years of age, even the mandatory minimum of 30 years essentially amounts to a life sentence for the convicted serial pedophile.
Per the Associated Press, Pennsylvania state law mandates that Sandusky will not be eligible for parole before serving the minimum sentence.
During today’s hearing, Sandusky followed up on a bizarre and rambling statement released on the eve of his sentencing by over and over again proclaiming his innocence.
“I did not do these disgusting acts,” Sandusky repeated ad nauseam, which prompted the judge to fire back that the continued denials makes the former Penn State assistant football coach a danger to society.
“I think it cannot be disputed that you have done much positive work, tragedy that all the qualities that made you successful continue to conceal the vices that brought you down,” Cleland said. “Continuing to conceal those vices from yourself and everybody else, in my view, makes you dangerous.
“The crime is not only what you did to their bodies, but the assault to their psyches and souls and the assault to the well-being of the larger community in which we all live.
Three of Sandusky’s 10 victims spoke at the sentencing hearing, asking for the stiffest punishment in the judge’s arsenal to be laid down.
“The tragedy of this crime is that it’s a story of betrayal. The most obviously aspect is your betrayal of 10 children,” Cleland said. “I’m not going to sentence you to centuries in prison, although the law will permit that.”
Sandusky’s attorney Joe Amendola stated that his client would continue to appeal his convictions, claiming that he wasn’t given ample opportunity to prepare an adequate defense.