Long wait ends for Sandusky

STATE COLLEGE -- He walked out of the side door of his house next to the garage, wearing a tan blazer and a blank expression. Jerry Sandusky had looked like this a lot in the courtroom these last two weeks, though occasionally he would break into a smile or a laugh with his lawyers.

But this time, about 9:25 Friday night, there was no emotion.

Mr. Sandusky was getting ready to go there to hear the outcome of his child sexual abuse trial.

A couple of minutes earlier, Tom Smith, Centre County director of probation and parole, and an officer, Ron Millward, came to the front door. Mr. Sandusky's time was up.

Mr. Sandusky had left the courtroom around noon, after the jury reheard testimony from the trial. By the late afternoon, eight cars waited in the driveway at his home. Six belonged to his family, one to Mr. Millward and the other to Mr. Smith.

When the charges were first announced and before the pretrial hearing, the street was at times flooded with media. On Friday afternoon, three journalists and two families who live at the houses next door were the only people waiting outside.

Mr. Sandusky's house is a modest brick home at the end of a cul de sac a few minutes from downtown State College. Evergreens tower over the houses, blocking the late afternoon sun along the street, The shade stopped in Mr. Sandusky's front yard.

His dog, Bo, ran around outside for a few minutes. His son, Jon Sandusky, went outside to get the mail. Another son, Jeff, brought back food. His wife, Dottie, emptied a bin of water on the front lawn.

The blinds were not drawn on one of the front room's windows. Mr. Sandusky sat inside, his white hair visible. Then at about 8 p.m., the downstairs lights went off.

It was still, until after 9, when the lights came on again. Soon Mr. Sandusky left his house.

As the car took him away, fireflies glowed in the front yard, and lamps were still ablaze above the garage, as though someone was expected to return late in the night.

Defense attorney Joe Amendola asked McKean County Senior Common Pleas Judge John M. Cleland to allow his client bail so he could remain under house arrest. It was denied. Mr. Sandusky wouldn't be coming back home.