Defense Rests in Sandusky Sex Abuse Trial

The defense in Jerry Sandusky's child sexual abuse case has rested without the former Penn State assistant football coach taking the stand in his own defense.

The defense rested Wednesday after both sides presented seven days of testimony, having heard from eight accusers who say Sandusky sexually abused them.

The 68-year-old former Penn State assistant football coach could spend the rest of his life in state prison if convicted. He is fighting 51 criminal counts for alleged abuse of 10 boys over 15 years.

The court also recessed for the day.

Testimony from one defense witness today appeared to backfire. Dr. Jonathan Dranov was supposed to testify that key witness Mike McQueary never actually saw Sandusky performing a sex act with a young boy in the shower. Instead however, Dranov appeared to actually bolster McQueary's story during his testimony.

Dranov described McQueary's demeanor when he told him about the incident back in 2001.

“There was no forgetting,” said Dranov. “His voice was trembling. His hands were shaking. He had gone into the Penn State football locker room. When he came in he heard what he described as sexual sounds. I said ‘what do you mean?’ He said, ‘sexual sounds.’”

“That is the sound bite the jury will take away from Dr. Dranov’s testimony,” said NBC News legal analyst Wesley Oliver. “It was really kind of a devastating witness in many ways for the defense.”

David Hilton was one of two young men brought to the stand to defend Sandusky. Hilton testified that he stayed at the Sandusky home over 50 times in the basement bedroom. He told the court nothing inappropriate ever happened. In the cross examination it was revealed Sandusky sent him a letter which included the words, “thanks for your special touch, thanks for caring so much.” Hilton claimed police questioned him and he thought they tried to make it seem like something happened when it didn’t.

“You would have to have blinders on, not to look at those young men and say they met the same profile as the young men who came in and said they were abused,” said attorney Tom Kline.