Sandusky Trial: The Appeals Process

Since Jerry Sandusky was found guilty, he was obviously not happy with that outcome, so of course he's going to appeal the case — but what exactly does that mean?

An appeal is a request to change a formal decision, like the guilty verdict in the Sandusky trial.

Sandusky can challenge issues of law, not issues of fact.

That means he can't challenge the fact that the jury believed the testimony of all the victims.

An issue of law would be that when the judge played an edited version of Sandusky's interview with NBC it could have biased the jury because the edited version made it seem like Sandusky hesitated when asked if he had molested young boys.

This could cause a mistrial.

Though the judge later showed them the unedited version so that shouldn't be an issue.

What seems most likely is that Sandusky, who probably has a large amount of savings after three decades of being a Penn State football coach, will try and blow all his savings on appeals, so that there will be nothing left for the victims if they hit him with civil suits.

All we know is, the odds of him successfully appealing anything are slim to none, which means justice will still have been served.

[Image via AP Images.]

Tags: appeal, boy, boys, cause, challenge, change, coach, decision, football, interview, jerry sandusky, judge, nbc, penn state, show, success, trial, victims, young