"We're going to go out there and provide them with another episode of great TV."

Stupid me. I had just asked the broadcasting legend, that would be one Martin Radovanic, what we were going to be doing once we went on live television for the Sandusky verdict. No one knew how long we would be on the air. My question was asked across from the Centre County courthouse in what became the Swopes International NewsCenter.  In between the Dairy Queen where many other media rift-raft were forced to take shelter.  The Brockerhoff Swopes building became our office and home-away-from home during the Sandusky trial.  I asked my question worried about my good friend Marty. None of his hair and makeup staff, cue card holders, script writers, morale boosters, his entourage, was around. Just him and I and the Swopes ambiance, amidst what looked to be a fire drill outside as we got word that a verdict was coming in 20 minutes. Stupid me.  I soon realized it was about like asking a great home run hitter, "What do you do when you see a fastball?"  It was just after 9:30 Friday night and off we went.  I could hear a stadium announcer in my mind, “Ladies and gentlemen, now batting, the Johnstown veteran, Marty Radovanic".  My other immediate thought was wanting to talk to the county sheriff, soon after the verdict.

It had already been along day Friday, like no other at the court complex. Across the street, the so called, "Russian Trial" had wrapped up.  After death threats were reportedly issued against the presiding judge, Judge Thomas King Kistler, and prosecutor, Centre Co. District Attorney, Stacy Parks Miller, the trial location, the courthouse annex, looked like “Escape From Alcatraz”. After their guilty verdict, riot cops with high powered weapons showed up to escort “The Boss” and his two bumbling sidekick defendants back to prison, their home for the new few decades. Ironic because we hadn't seen the riot cops since that night in November in downtown State College when JoePa was fired due to the Sandusky scandal. And now Jerry Sandusky himself, right next door to the annex, would soon learn his fate. If they waited a few hours he could of carpooled over to the jail with the wannabe gangsters.

My Friday night schedule had me initially distressed. After being on the Sandusky story for years, I wouldn't be able to be in the courtroom when the verdict was read. You want to be there. You want to see the reactions, the looks on the faces of the principle characters. So after the verdict I had a chat with Centre County Sheriff, Denny Nau.  We had mentioned early on to the cowboy hat wearing, Mr. Law and Order Sheriff if he wanted some coast-to-coast face time try standing close to Sandusky.  It soon looked like he became Jerry's long lost brother. If you saw Jerry, you saw Denny. You couldn't get him out of the picture frame. Knowing he would be escorting Sandusky from the courtroom to the waiting jailhouse ride out back I asked the Sheriff about Sandusky's reaction. Part of his procedure is to keep some type of physical contact, even if it’s just a hand on their arm with the defendant.  Denny said Sandusky was shaking a bit, his hands continually clenching but he didn't say a word. Jerry knew after all these years...it was over. 

In talking with prison psychologists they'll tell you, in many cases, the most difficult group of inmates to work with, in terms of counseling, is pedophiles. Why? Good counseling often depends on those being counseled to first admit they've made a mistake or done something wrong.  Pedophiles hate to admit it. They were simply having a "special" relationship with their victims.  It’s what made a plea bargain impossible in this case. Yes, there were plea bargain talks ongoing despite each side repeatedly denying it.  Prosecutors repeatedly telling us, “Jerry is 68 years old why take a plea bargain that's going to mean a life sentence?” But they weren't crazy about a Centre County jury hearing the case, let alone having the victims retell their stories for all the world to see and hear. But Jerry was in denial or "stubborn" as his attorney, Joe Amendola, termed it.

Amendola has taken a verbal beating for his handling of this case. He knew from early on he had little to work with. He told Sandusky it would be a miracle if they even got a hung jury. No way was he walking out the courthouse door a free man. Now we hear they weren't ready for a trial.  That sounds like the "dog ate my homework" defense, and Sandusky's legal team wanted to resign just before jury selection. So why was Amendola smiling so much Friday night and again jumping front and center to the court steps podium? Probably because he'll soon be done with this. Sure they'll talk appeals and what’s to come, but Joe will probably leave that to others down the line.  As for the bad publicity, it doesn't phase him much.  Joe is smiling all the way to the bank. 

As for the trial testimony there was not a lot of surprises. Through all the pre-trial filings we saw how the case was shaping up. The bombshells came outside the courtroom, especially the Matt Sandusky situation. After years of denials, he now says when he was one of the Sandusky's adopted kids he was abused by Jerry. He was ready to take the stand to testify to that. Plus with the defense team presenting a fairly weak rebuttal case for two and half days it was no wonder lead prosecutor, Joe McGettigan, was outside of the courthouse during breaks with the sunglasses smiling broadly. When we heard Attorney General Linda Kelly was at the courthouse early Friday evening, it was one of the first clues a verdict was coming. But I thought, that means she'll handle the post-trial news conference. We won't hear Mr. McGettigan at the podium. The last time he talked to the media circus was after a pre-trial hearing in April, after we yelled at Amendola to give the other side a chance and get off the podium.  By the time McGettigan got up to speak it was a brutal, straight forward, at times borderline graphic language, defense of the prosecution’s case. He was a verbal flamethrower. Within a day or two after, Judge John Cleland issued the gag order.

So I head out of Swopes for one of the last time Friday night to join Marty on the courthouse lawn. While I'm having technical problems getting "suited up", Mr. Anchorman is already at it.  Lights, camera, he's stepped into the batter’s box waiting on that fastball. He's yelling at me to look at the camera or him...quit looking around so much.  But I'm the reporter, with that wide eyed look of someone who just saw the Grand Canyon for the first time. That's what us reporter types do, size up the scene, seeing who’s available to talk to us, etc. And it was quite a scene. We haven't seen that at the courthouse in a long time. We were broadcasting in the midst of a crowd. By the time Amendola got to us and said on camera, "Gary gave me a hundred bucks to be here", and I could hear those nearby groaning...I just smiled and asked Joe some questions.  We had already been on for two hours, and my friend Marty had somehow survived. Thanks for tuning in.