The Latest: Jury has ex-Penn St. assistant defamation suit
BELLEFONTE, Pa. (AP) The Latest on a former Penn State assistant football coach's defamation suit (all times local):
6:45 p.m.
A jury has ruled in favor of a former Penn State assistant football coach in his defamation case against the university, awarding him over $7 million in damages.
Jurors deliberated about four hours before returning with their decision Thursday night.
Mike McQueary claims he was defamed by a statement the school president released the day Jerry Sandusky was charged with child molestation. He also says he was retaliated against for helping with the Sandusky investigation and misled by school administrators.
Penn State argued McQueary's reputation was harmed by public opinion about his decision not to go to police or child-welfare authorities when he saw Sandusky sexually abusing a boy.
The jury awarded McQueary compensatory damages of about $2.3 million. He also was awarded $5 million in punitive damages.
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2:35 p.m.
A former Penn State assistant football coach's defamation case against the university is in the hands of jurors.
A Centre County court official says in a news release that jurors received the charges from the judge Thursday afternoon and left the courtroom to begin deliberations.
Both sides in the defamation and whistleblower lawsuit filed by Mike McQueary made closing arguments earlier Thursday.
McQueary claims he was defamed by a statement the school president released the day Jerry Sandusky was charged with child molestation, retaliated against for helping with the Sandusky investigation and misled by school administrators.
Penn State argues McQueary's reputation was harmed by public opinion about his decision not to go to police or child-welfare authorities when he saw Sandusky sexually abusing a boy in a team shower in 2001.
McQueary is seeking more than $4 million.
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12:40 p.m.
Lawyers for a former Penn State assistant football coach are urging jurors to find the university liable for how it treated him after it became public that his testimony helped prosecutors charge Jerry Sandusky with child molestation.
Both sides in the defamation and whistleblower lawsuit filed by Mike McQueary made closing arguments Thursday.
McQueary claims he was defamed by a statement the school president released the day Sandusky was charged, retaliated against for helping with the Sandusky investigation and misled by school administrators.
Penn State argues McQueary's reputation was harmed by public opinion about his decision not to go to police or child-welfare authorities when he saw Sandusky sexually abusing a boy in a team shower in 2001.
McQueary is seeking more than $4 million.
