Shortly before defense rested, attorneys had a meeting lasting about 40 minutes in a back room, delaying the proceedings. It was unclear at this point whether Sandusky would testify.
But when court resumed, Sandusky’s attorney Joe Amendola announced that the defense would not call any more witnesses.
The last witness to testify in the trial was David Hilton, a man who attended The Second Mile programs and said he spent a lot of time with Sandusky. Hilton said police questioned him three or four times, but he said there was never any inappropriate contact between him and Sandusky.
“I felt like they wanted me to say something that wasn’t true,” Hilton, 21, said.
The man’s uncle called authorities after charges were filed against Sandusky in November, after which police questioned him. Prosecutor Joe McGettigan asked if Hilton knew his uncle contacted prosecutors again last night, but Hilton said no.
He said he traveled with Sandusky to California for a week and stayed over at the Sandusky household many times.
Sandusky helped Hilton with his academic work, because his parents are both deaf and he had trouble in school, Hilton said.
Chad Rexrode, who attended Second Mile Programs when he was younger, also testified on Sandusky’s behalf Wednesday morning.
“You never hear anything bad about Jerry,” Rexrode said.
Jonathan Dranov, a friend of the McQueary family who was present the McQueary home the night Mike McQueary said he saw Sandusky and a boy in the Lasch Building shower area, was called by the defense to testify.
Dranov said he went to the McQueary household after Mike’s father, John, called him that night in 2001. When Dranov got their home, he said McQueary was “visibly shaken and upset.”
McQueary did not give a “graphic description” of what he witnessed, Dranov said. He only said that he saw and made eye contact with a young boy in the shower, Dranov said. He said Mike McQueary told him he then saw an arm reach out and pull the boy back into the shower.
Mike McQueary testified earlier in the trial that he did not see the arm reach out as Dranov described.
McQueary also testified earlier in the trial that he tried not to be involved in anything that Sanduksy was involved in, specifically because of what he witnessed that night.
But on Wednesday, a former Second Mile employee Henry Lesch, who organized golf outings for the organization, testified that McQueary was sent a letter from The Second Mile thanking him for playing in their golf outing in June of 2003.
The defense presented the letter and Lesch confirmed that the letter is from The Second Mile outing and was sent only to participants. However, Lesch said he does not specifically recall McQueary playing in the golf outing.
The defense also called Sara Ganim, a reporter for the Patriot-News in Harrisburg who won a Pulitzer Prize for reporting on the Sandusky case, to the stand to testify on Wednesday.
After a short sidebar that included Craig Staudenmaier, an attorney for the Patriot-News, the prosecution and the defense, McGettigan entered her testimony into evidence through a stipulation — meaning Ganim did not officially take the stand and testify.
McGettigan read that if Ganim had been called, she would be asked only one question: Before charges were filed, did you contact the mother of a person who said they were abused by Sandusky and give her information on how to get in contact with an investigator in the case?
He told the jury that her response would be “yes.”
Wednesday morning, juror six was excused from her duties because she was too sick to attend the day’s proceedings. The first alternate juror –– a Penn State alumnus, Class of 2007 –– took her spot.
Juror six, who was replaced, is a young woman who doesn’t watch much television or follow the news.
Closing arguments will take place Thursday, and the jury is expected to go into deliberations Thursday afternoon.