Update on Sandusky Trial } 3 out of 51 Counts Dismissed Today

 Former Penn State assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky had three of the 51 child sex-abuse charges against him dismissed Thursday before attorneys began closing arguments in the high-profile case that led to the firing of longtime head coach Joe Paterno.

Judge John Cleland found one count of involuntary deviate sexual intercourse and one count of aggravated indecent assault involving the accuser known as Victim 4 weren't supported by the evidence. Another charge of involuntary deviate sexual intercourse involving another boy was dismissed because Cleland said it duplicated another count.

Sandusky still faces 48 criminal counts involving 10 alleged victims. Jurors were to hear closing arguments Thursday morning and could begin deliberations by the afternoon.

Cleland said two of the counts had to be dismissed because the alleged victim testified Sandusky attempted to penetrate him but didn't say that such penetration had actually occurred. Cleland said he would have been required to set aside any convictions on those counts, because "the verdict was not supported by the evidence."

When jurors begin weighing Sandusky's fate, they won't have the benefit of having heard the former coach take the stand in his own defense.