The juror who was dismissed from the Jerry Sandusky child sex abuse trial due to illness spoke exclusively with WJAC-TV 6News reporter Gary Sinderson about the selection process and testimony hours before the verdict was reached Friday.
Juror Number 6, who was dismissed Wednesday because she was too sick to hear the final day of testimony in the trial, would only identify herself by her first name, Allie.
She told 6News that she was not surprised that she was selected early on in the jury pool to hear the case and that she made a quick assessment of Sandusky in the courtroom.
“Mostly what they asked was ‘Do I watch the news’ and ‘did I know a lot about the case?’ I really didn’t. I really didn’t think that they wouldn’t pick me,” said Allie. “I thought he was creepy and he didn’t look like he was taking it too serious.”
Allie said that she believed the eight known victims who took the stand and testified about being molested by Sandusky at his home and on Penn State’s University Park campus.
“You could feel the emotion. There was no doubt about it, that they were telling the truth,” said Allie. “That was the big thing that I noticed. I thought that was a big red flag. That (Sandusky) was kind of admiring them, like they were his lovers.”
During the one-on-one interview, Allie told 6News that she was dismissed before she heard the closing arguments by defense attorney Joe Amendola and state prosecutor Joe McGettigan, but she was surprised that it took nearly 20 hours for the jury to reach a verdict.
“The fact that it’s taking so long, it boggles my mind,” said Allie. “To me, it was no question.”
Following more than 20 hours of deliberations, the jury found Sandusky guilty of 45 of 48 charges connected to the child sex abuse scandal.
