Money Makes the World Go Around

Trey Smith

The Jerry Sandusky trial began this week. Sandusky, a former coach for the Penn State Nittany Lions, is charged with 52 counts of sexual abuse against minors, particularly through a charity he founded, Second Mile.

In all honesty, I was more than a little surprised that Sandusky didn't cop a plea. At this juncture, with all the sordid testimony from the alleged victims all over the media, it doesn't really matter if the guy is found guilty or not (though I'm sure it certainly DOES matter to the alleged victims). His reputation is forever tarnished. No one wants to work with or be seen with the guy!

At this point in the trial, his defense team has trotted out an age old attack against the alleged victims: Their accusations are all about money! Each one is nothing more than a greedy individual looking to cash in on untrue accusations against a well-known individual.

But there is an irony here. Regardless of whether or not this accusation might be true for some or all of the alleged victims, I bet the attorneys representing Mr. Sandusky are doing so because he's paying them a lot of money! If Sandusky was some poor bloke, I bet not one of these high-priced lawyers would have taken on his case.

So, it seems a bit unseemly to me to have one group of people who are in it for the money (and the status which often means more money in the future) accuse a second group of the same damn thing without acknowledging their own slime.

If the charges are adjudged to be true, Sandusky's lawyers are involved in the case of their own volition, while each of the victims was forced into the situation against their will. Since we can't give back to the victims their innocence and childhood, the least society can do is provide monetary compensation to help pay for therapy.