Regardless of the outcome of the Jerry Sandusky child sex abuse case, one thing is clear:
There will be no normalcy for any of those involved when this trial ends in Centre County Court.
During the first week of testimony, the prosecution put eight alleged victims on the witness stand to testify against Sandusky, who is charged with 52 counts of child sex abuse. Two of the alleged victims are unknown.
The victims, now ranging in age from 18 to 28, presented similar stories: They met Sandusky at camps sponsored by The Second Mile, and they were apparently groomed by Sandusky, who later sexually assaulted them at his home or in showers on the Penn State campus.
The men broke down and cried, sometimes struggling for the answers to prosecutor and defense questioning.
Agent Anthony Sassano of the Attorney General's Office testified Friday that camp rosters from Second Mile camps were found during a search of Sandusky's home. The rosters had notations - coincidentally matching the boys who said they were assaulted by the former Penn State defensive coordinator.
A janitor also testified about his co-worker's reaction to allegedly seeing Sandusky assault a child in a shower, and a former Penn State police officer, Ronald Schreffler, testified that he thought charges were warranted in a 1998 case in which Sandusky showered with a young boy, but the district attorney then, Ray Gricar, disagreed.
Forever changed are the boys, now men; their families; Penn State employees and even the investigators on the case.
The lives of Sandusky and his family are also changed. Hearing the testimony must be extremely difficult with Sandusky forever connected to the allegations, even as his guilt or innocence hasn't been determined.
There have also been calls from some quarters for Sandusky to throw in the towel now and plead guilty, solely based on the prosecution's presentation.
Now comes the defense, as early as Monday, to work to undo the damage created by the state's case against Sandusky.
During his tenure as a longtime Penn State assistant football coach, Sandusky's area of expertise was defense.
He sure needs some now.
