After a year of life-ruining scandal, a conviction on 45 counts of sexual abuse, a thousand ill-advised punchlines and too many fines and sanctions to remember, the victims of the Jerry Sandusky horror might be able to rest a little easier.
The sentencing on Sandusky’s convictions went down this morning, to the tune of at least 30 years in prison.
At 10:09 a.m., Sandusky stood at the front of the courtroom in a bright red jumpsuit with his back to his wife and four of his children. Judge John M. Cleland told the 68-year old that the sentence of at least 30 years, but not more than 60 years, meant he would be in prison “for the rest of your life.” Sandusky looked down for a moment, then back at the judge. The courtroom was quiet.
The sentencing took less than 90 minutes, but it provides yet another moment of closure for Sandusky’s victims, along with a community that has been stunned by one of the most devastating, high-profile scandals to hit higher education. (via Washington Post)
Just like the Penn State fines, this isn’t “enough,” it’s not “fair,” and it doesn’t make anything “right”. It’s not a happy moment to read about this guy being sentenced to 30-60 years in jail for the terrible things he did to people (and the terrible shockwaves he sent throughout an entire organization), much in the same way you shouldn’t pull that “HE’LL GET KILLED IN PRISON I BET HEH HEH” card. None of this is happy or funny. It’s sad, it never stops being stomach-turning, but at least justice is playing out in the way we kinda-sorta trust it will.
Jerry Sandusky is now an officially charged-and-sentenced child molester. The kind of guy who says this.
“A young man who was dramatic, a veteran accuser, and always sought attention, started everything. He was joined by a well-orchestrated effort of the media, investigators, the system, Penn State, psychologists, civil attorneys and other accusers. They won.”