Twelve jurors and four alternates have been seated in the trial of former Penn State assistant coach Jerry Sandusky in a Bellefonte courtroom .
Twelve of the 40 jurors questioned Wednesday morning were excused, mostly because they said serving on a multi-week trial would be a financial hardship.
Nine of the 12 jurors and four alternates needed for the trial were picked Tuesday, the first day of selection. Nine members of the jury have direct ties to the University. The jury includes a senior at PSU, a retired PSU professor, two PSU graduates, a PSU season ticket holder, a PSU administrator in the engineering department, a dance teacher in the school's continuing education program, and a current PSU professor who has been a faculty member for 24 years.
Judge John Cleland told prospective jurors they will not be sequestered. He said he is trusting them to go home every night and not read or watch anything from the case.
Sandusky faces a total of 52 counts involving 10 alleged victims over a 15-year span. He has denied the allegations.
Prosecutors have used four of their eight no-explanation-needed challenges and Sandusky's attorneys five.
Jury selection is expected to conclude today, although the trial will not start until Monday.
Prosecutors plan to start their case against Sandusky by reading copies of "bizarre" letters that the former football coach wrote to one of his alleged victims in which he describes a relationship between them, says a source familiar with the evidence in the case.
