(NECN/NBC News: Chris Pollone, Bellefonte, Penn.) - Closing arguments begin this morning in the sexual abuse trial of former Penn State football coach Jerry Sandusky.
Sandusky is accused of molesting 10 boys over a 15-year period.
The defense chose not to put Sandusky on the witness stand.
He left court Wednesday without ever saying a word, no explanation to jurors that might counter the testimony of eight accusers and a former coach who claimed he spotted Sandusky in the shower naked with a young boy more than a decade ago.
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By law, the jury is not allowed to read anything into Sandusky's silence, but in this case, legal analysts say prosecution witnesses said a lot more than the defense.
"All these character witnesses did was to provide a smattering of support. There are well respected people in the community who still stand by Jerry. That's really all they did and I don't think that will overcome the testimony of the 8 victims who came and testified," says NBC legal analyst Wes Oliver.
On Wednesday a defense witness backfired and actually became an asset for the prosecution.
Dr. Jonathan Dranov testified former Penn State grad assistant Mike McQueary told him in 2001 of spotting Jerry Sandusky with a young boy in a locker room shower.
Dranov said McQueary never told him he actually saw Sandusky engaged in sex with the boy, but on cross examination, Dranov described in great detail how shaken up McQueary seemed, and that McQueary told him he heard "sexual sounds" coming from the shower.
"That bite, those two words, 'sexual sounds' is what the jury will take back with them. That's what they will remember. Dranov at the end of the day was ultimately a great witness for the prosecution," Oliver says.
A juror on the panel had to be replaced after being too sick to come to court.
That juror has been replaced with an alternate.
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