A jury found former Penn State assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky guilty on 45 of 48 child sex abuse charges on Friday, ending a trial that rocked US college football and renewed attention on pedophilia in America.

Sandusky, 68, faces potentially hundreds of years in prison for molesting 10 boys over 15 years. He was escorted immediately out of the courthouse in handcuffs and taken into an awaiting sheriff's cruiser.

A large crowd that gathered outside the Centre County Courthouse in central Pennsylvania broke into cheers upon learning of the news.

One of the victims who had testified burst into tears as the verdict was read. Sandusky, meanwhile, stood and faced the foreman and appeared expressionless, tucking his hands into his pockets.

His wife, Dottie, sitting behind him, showed no emotion.

Pennsylvania Attorney General Linda Kelly praised the eight victims, all now adults, who came forward to testify in the two-week trial that featured graphic sexual detail of Sandusky's abuse.

"Who would believe a kid?" Kelly said. "The answer is, 'We here in Bellefonte, Pennsylvania, will believe a kid. ... A jury of 12 people in Bellefonte, Pennsylvania, most definitely would and did believe a kid."

Kelly called Sandusky "a serial child predator who committed horrific acts" and thanked the victims for testifying, saying they had "shown great strength" in telling their stories.

She praised the victims for their courage to speak "not only to the jury and a packed courtroom ... but also the entire world".

Defense attorney Joe Amendola said he was examining the grounds for an appeal.

"They're devastated," Amendola said of Sandusky's relatives, "but they've been devastated ever since these charges came to light".

The decision came after 21 hours of deliberation over two days by a jury of seven women and five men. Nine of the 16 jurors and alternates had ties to Pennsylvania State University, and the final days of the trial drew large crowds to the courthouse in central Pennsylvania.

The headline-grabbing scandal also has tarnished the legacy of Pennsylvania State University, one of the country's most illustrious college football programs.

Sandusky allegedly recruited his young victims under the guise of a program he ran for abused and neglected youth.

The once popular coach was found guilty of charges related to each of the 10 victims, but acquitted of three individual counts relative to three separate individuals, the Harrisburg-based Patriot-News reported.

Sentencing was expected in about 90 days, according to US media reports.

AFP-Reuters

(China Daily 06/24/2012 page4)