BELLEFONTE -- On the second day of the defense's case, attorney Joe Amendola called several character witnesses for Jerry Sandusky, including neighbors, friends, former Second Mile participants and even former Penn State linebacker Lance Mehl, who went on to play for the New York Jets for eight years.
Sandusky is facing 51 charges in his child sex abuse trial in Centre County Court.
The witnesses all said that Sandusky enjoyed a good reputation in the community and that they still stood behind him.
Amendola also put on the stand two state troopers who interviewed scores of potential accusers and a majority of the ones who testified last week. Amendola's line of questioning tried to get Cpl. Scott Rossman and retired Cpl. Joseph Leiter to say they painted alleged victims' stories during the interview process by telling the accusers details of other potential victims' statements.
The troopers denied sharing details of what other alleged victims told or said, but they did say that they told the alleged victims that they were not alone in their accusations.
Amendola keyed in on an interview from April 2011 that was recorded and will be played after the break this morning to prove his point.
