Joe McGettigan went through a long cross-examination of Dr. Elliot Atkins, trying to prove that Histrionic Personality Disorder was so broad that it lacked meaning. Symptoms include requiring intimacy, seeking recognition, and other things that are universal to many people.

“I come pretty close to being diagnosed. I really do,” Dr. Atkins said.

Following Dr. Atkins’ testimony, Jerry Sandusky’s wife of 45 years Dottie took the stand. Amendola began by questioning her about the time constraints that came with being a Penn State football coach, and the frequency of the visits of Second Mile children to their home and on trips. Mrs. Sandusky said that the sleepovers were more frequent during football season.

Mrs. Sandusky also acknowledged that she knew many of the alleged victims personally, and identified many of their pictures, but she insisted that she had never seen inappropriate contact with her husband and those children.

“They had a choice to stay wherever they wanted to stay. We had a bedroom in the basement and upstairs,” Mrs. Sandusky said. “The basement wasn’t soundproof.”

Mrs. Sandusky also said that her husband would sometimes go to the basement to say goodnight to kids staying over, but she “didn’t go down and tuck them in.” She did say that she would go down to the basement “at least once a day” during football season, although it wasn’t habitual.

According to Mrs. Sandusky, he would always sleep in their bed when he was home, and he usually went to bed first. Predictably, she also denied every hearing any suspicious noises from the basement.

Mrs. Sandusky described Victim 4 as a “troublemaker” who “didn’t listen a lot.” She described a scene at the 1999 Alamo Bowl, in which her husband became angry at Victim 4 and yelled at him in the hotel room, although she testified that she never walked in on them naked as Victim 4 has claimed.

“I don’t know what it could be for,” Mrs. Sandusky said after a long pause, when asked why the alleged victims would lie.

The final witness called today was a psychiatrist, brought in by the prosecution to rebut the previous testimony about histrionic personality disorder.

“I didn’t detect any stress in him whatsoever, other than what pertains to this case…It would be very very unlikely for someone with histrionic personality disorder for someone like Mr. Sandusky to tolerate being talked down to by a boss…Even the Second Mile itself is not receptive to someone who wants to the center of attention.”

The psychiatrist concluded that Sandusky is “Not at all compatible with the profile of someone with histrionic personality disorder.”

At the conclusion, Judge Cleland says that he still expects the defense to rest tomorrow at noon. Court resumes at 9 a.m.