keepingitheel.com

After only 21 hours of deliberation, a Pennsylvania jury found former Penn State Assistant Coach Jerry Sandusky guilty on 45 of 48 charges related to child sex abuse Friday evening.

The case shocked the nation in 2011 when allegations came out that Sandusky has abused young boys through his charity over a period of 15 years.  Head coach Joe Paterno was removed from his post and Penn State has been closely watched after some – a few of whom worked with Sandusky at Penn State – said they were made aware of the abuse and ignored it.  Sandusky was accused of taking showers with young boys on university grounds.

During the three week trial, graphic testimony was given by many of the victims in hopes that it would further the prosecution’s case and have him found guilty. The defense attempted to argue that the media was biased so there was no way Sandusky could receive a fair trial and defense attorney Joe Amendola also wanted jurors to know that there wasn’t much physical evidence and the victims could possibly be exaggerating their story for financial gain.

A request for Sandusky’s bail was denied by Judge John Cleland and he was instantly taken to a local jail where he’ll remain as he awaits sentencing.  He could receive a maximum of 442 years in prison but even if he only receives a minimum sentence, which is based on the weight of each charge, he will spend the rest of his life in prison. There is also a chance that incest charges will be brought against him because his son Matt who is adopted stated through his attorney that he, too, was abused by Sandusky.

Lawyers for Sandusky suspect the sentencing will take place in September and say that he was expecting the worst to happen.

Source

Documents made public this week reveal that disgraced former “America’s Best Dance Crew” judge Shane Sparks allegedly sexually abused six underaged girls in addition to the woman he went to trial for raping when she was 12 years old. The main accuser, now 29, says that Sparks was supposed to be driving her home from a dance class when he took a detour to his house:

TMZ reports:

“… the victim claims Sparks took her to HIS home where he started to “make out” with her … and then he “rolled on top of her and pinned her beneath him…(she) told him she was a virgin and not ready for intercourse” but Sparks “ignored her pleas and penetrated her vagina for several minutes. He then drove her home.”

Court documents reveal that no less than six others suffered abuse at the hands of the dance instructor, yet no additional details were included about these victims.

Sparks plead no contest (VERY suspect) to charges of having unlawful sex with a minor under the age of sixteen and will spend 270 days in prison at “some time” next year. Less than a year for rape of a child and investigators found out about six other girls who were also abused? That’s it!? I don’t get it at all. What about the value and the dignity of these young women? Sparks doesn’t seem to have received any special celebrity treatment (I only know who he is because of his arrest), but the California penal system is definitely more screwed up than I originally thought if this sort of crime seems to be punishable with a veritable slap on the wrist. What Sparks took from his victims is worth far more than anything that can be boosted from a store, so why is it that he’s receiving the same amount of jail time one could get for committing a petty theft?

What do you think?