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The Juror Selection For Jerry Sandusky’s Trial Is Coming Under Heavy Scrutiny

As the Jerry Sandusky scandal moves toward the trial phase, the focus of late has been on the jury selection. While the prosecution asked for jurors not to be selected from Centre County (where the trial will be held) because of its close ties to Penn State, Sandusky’s lawyers prevailed, and jurors will come from the area.

But now, the closeness of the Penn State community is coming to light, and with that closeness comes questions of whether it’s going to jeopardize the trial. (For what it’s worth, the presiding judge, John M. Cleland, said that given Penn State’s prevalence in Centre County, jurors’ connections to the school “cannot be avoided.”)

Yesterday, on day one of juror selection, nine people were chosen. This is per ESPN:

Included in the selected jury was a longtime Penn State football season-ticket holder, proving connections to Penn State weren’t enough to keep prospective jurors from being chosen.

Additional information on the juror was also provided in the same story.

One of the very first jurors to be seated wasn’t just a season-ticket holder since the 1970s: She said John McQueary — a possible trial witness and the father of a key witness — once worked with her husband.

I’m not a lawyer. I’m not a legal analyst, or a judge, or anything close to that. But what I am is someone with an opinion. And I know that if I were to be asked to sit on a jury to decide the fate of Jerry Sandusky, that opinion would affect my ability to be impartial. I’m also not claiming to be a mind reader. But let me just pose the situation as it currently stands: a woman, who has been a Penn State season ticket holder for nearly 40 years, and is also married to a man that worked with a key witness to the trial, will sit on the jury. Can she be impartial going into these legal proceedings?

I’m going to leave it at this: I don’t know how anyone that has even the slightest Penn State connection, let alone lives in that community, should be allowed to serve on this jury. Sara Ganim of the Patriot-News has more information on the selection process. Per Ganim this morning, the last three jurors for the trial were selected. Two of the three previously worked at Penn State, one of whom had her commencement speech given by Jerry Sandusky. One of the jurors that was picked yesterday is a current Penn State student who works in its athletic department, and has a cousin that plays football at the school.

Again, these are just the facts. These are the people being selected to decide the fate of Jerry Sandusky.

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