Jerry Sandusky Trial: Defense attorney Joe Amendola says in closing argument, "All he wanted to do was help kids"

(CBS/AP) BELLEFONTE, Pa. - Jerry Sandusky's defense attorney says the former Penn State assistant football coach is a victim of lawyers and accusers with financial motives and a legal system that thought he was guilty before he was even charged.

Pictures: Child-sex scandal rocks Penn State

In his closing argument Thursday, Joe Amendola said investigators determined Sandusky was a dangerous sex offender as far back as 2008, then coached his alleged victims to give accusatory statements.

Amendola argued that the fact that the prosecution presented no accusations of abuse that occurred before the late 1990s undermines the state's case: "Out of the blue, after all these years when Jerry is in his mid-50's he decides to become a pedophile. Does that make sense?"

Sandusky's attorney asked the jury to be skeptical of the claims of some of his client's alleged victims.

"If Mr. Sandusky had anal sex with that child would it be conceivable that there would be no medical problems?" said Amendola. "It doesn't add up, it makes no sense."

During his closing, which took more than an hour, Amendola read from the transcript of Sandusky's November 2011 interview with NBC's Bob Costas, telling the jury his client was nervous during the interview.

"He wanted to tell the world he was innocent," said Amendola. "He didn't have to talk."

Amendola also spent time discussing the testimony of Mike McQueary, the former PSU graduate assistant who allegedly witnessed Sandusky assaulting a boy in a university locker room shower. He said that McQueary "assumed" the sounds he heard were sexual, and that his testimony is undermined by the fact that neither he, nor his father nor a family friend who he said he related the incident to, called the police.

Even if Sandusky is acquitted, Amendola says his client's life has already been destroyed, as have the reputations of many, including former Penn State head football coach, Joe Paterno.

"All he wanted to do was help kids," said Amendola.

Sandusky is charged with 48 criminal counts involving the alleged sexual abuse of 10 boys.

Prosecutors are to present their closing next.

Additional reporting by CBS News' Paula Reid in Bellefonte, Pa.

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