Jerry Sandusky was sentenced on Tuesday to at least 30 years in prison in the child sexual abuse scandal that brought shame to Penn State and led to coach Joe Paterno's downfall. Sandusky was found guilty in June of 45 counts of sexually molesting 10 boys over a 15-year period.
Judge John Cleland delivered the sentence here in a packed courtroom of the Centre County Courthouse, according to the Associated Press. The maximum sentence was 442 years and Sandusky has already served 112 days.
In his statement before Cleland announced the prison term, Sandusky insisted he was innocent.
"I didn't do these alleged disgusting acts," the former Penn State assistant football coach said. "I speak today with hope in my heart for a brighter day...this is the worst loss of my life."
At trial, prosecutors said Sandusky was a "predatory pedophile" and a "sick, disturbed man," who targeted "the most vulnerable kids, kids in need."
Eight of the boys he was found guilty of molesting over a 15 year period testified at his trial and described a range of abuse that included fondling, oral sex and anal intercourse. One of the prosecution's star witnesses, a former graduate assistant Mike McQueary, testified that he saw Sandusky raping a boy in a locker room shower.
Among the three who spoke Tuesday, a young man who said he was 11 when Sandusky groped him in a shower in 1998 said Sandusky is in denial and should "stop coming up with excuses."
Meanwhile, his defense lawyer Joe Amendola countered that Sandusky was the victim of a grand conspiracy and that prosecutors had no physical proof he had molested anyone.
Due to the allegations, "everything [Jerry Sandusky] ever loved, everything he's ever built, and everything he's ever stood for -- it's gone," Amendola said.
