Juror selection continues in Sandusky's trial

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Former Penn State assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky and his attorney Joe Amendola enter the Centre County Courthouse as the second day of jury selection begins in his child sex abuse trial on June 6 in Bellefonte, Pa.

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By Msnbc.com staff and wire services

After a fast-paced first day, jury selection resumed Wednesday in the child sex abuse trial of former Penn State University assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky.

Twelve jurors and four alternates are needed. By the end of the day Tuesday, nine jurors had been chosen?at?the Bellefonte, Pa., courthouse.

Five men and four women, all white, were selected, including a retired bus driver, a high school teacher, an engineer, a soil science professor in Penn State?s agriculture department, a Wal-Mart employee and a Penn State student.

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The student is a senior who told the court he works in the university's athletic department, but said he could keep an open mind about the case, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported. The high school teacher received a master's degree from Penn State in 2008.

Other potential jurors told the court they had affiliations with Penn State or Sandusky's former children's charity, The Second Mile.

One of two middle-aged women selected told the court she's been a Penn State football season ticketholder since the 1970s and that her husband works for the medical group where the father of key witness Mike McQueary previously worked.

Sandusky's attorney had moved to strike the woman as a juror, but Judge John Cleland overruled his objection.

"We're in Centre County. We're in rural Pennsylvania," Cleland said. "There are these (connections) that cannot be avoided."

Cleland said that unless ties to witnesses or Sandusky were strong, relationships such as hers would not mean she could not serve on the jury, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported.

Eighteen of 40 potential jurors told the court they are mandated by law to report suspected child abuse due to the nature of their job, according to a Patriot-News reporter following the selection process. In addition to the charges Sandusky faces, two top Penn State officials have been charged with not reporting an abuse incident brought to their attention in 2001 by then-assistant coach McQueary.

As jury selection continued, Cleland reiterated that the trial would start Monday at 9 a.m. and run until the end of June, according to PennLive.com.

Forty prospective jurors were interviewed for the sexual abuse trial of former Penn State Coach Jerry Sandusky. NBC's Brian Williams reports.

The lawyers set to argue the child sex abuse case arrived in court Wednesday to complete jury selection.

Defense lawyer Joe Amendola arrived with Sandusky just after 8:15 a.m. and said he's confident the nine jurors already picked will give "us a fair shake."

Lead prosecutor Joseph McGettigan, Pennsylvania's senior deputy attorney general, said that jury selection was "so far, so good."

Prosecutors have 'bizarre' letters Sandusky wrote to victim, source tells NBC

Seven more jurors need to be picked, including four alternates. Jurors are being chosen from among people who live in the State College area, where Penn State's main campus is located.

Cleland told potential jurors that he would not sequester them once the trial begins. He said he expected the trial to run until the end of the month.

"I need you to all have an open mind," Cleland told jurors on Tuesday, according to PennLive.com. "This defendant is charged with sexual abuse of children."

9 jurors chosen so far in Jerry Sandusky trial

Sandusky, 68, faces 52 criminal counts for alleged abuse of 10 boys over 15 years. Some of the accusers are expected to testify. Sandusky has repeatedly denied the charges.

On Monday, the alleged victims were told they would have to use their real names when they testified. Lawyers for five accusers had requested their clients be allowed to use pseudonyms.

Prosecutors have obtained multiple incriminating and ?bizarre? letters?that Sandusky allegedly wrote to one of his accusers, who is known as Victim #4, NBC News reported Tuesday. The letters are allegedly written in the former coach's handwriting.

According to the indictment handed up against Sandusky, the defendant met the boy -- who is now 28 -- through his Second Mile charity and slowly won his trust by giving him gifts and other rewards.

"Victim 4 became a fixture in the Sandusky household, sleeping overnight and accompanying Sandusky to charity functions and Penn State football games,? it said. Usually the persuasion Sandusky employed was accompanied by gifts and opportunities to attend sporting and charity events. He gave Victim #4 dozens of gifts, some purchased and some obtained from various sporting goods vendors such as Nike and Airwalk."?

The case has drawn intense media attention, with about two dozen television trucks parked outside the courthouse.

The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.

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