In an exclusive interview, juror Joshua Harper tells TODAY's Lester Holt that the decision to convict Jerry Sandusky hinged on the credibility of his accusers and the testimony of independent witnesses. 
 
 A juror in the Jerry Sandusky trial said Saturday that the look on the former Penn State football coach's face as the guilty verdicts were announced was "confirmation" that they had made the right decision. 
 
 Joshua Harper told TODAY that Sandusky had shown "no real emotion, just kind of accepting because he knew it was true," he added. 
 
 Sandusky, 68, was convicted Friday of 45 counts of child sexual abuse and faces a minimum sentence of 60 years in prison, NBC News reported. 
 
 The former longtime defensive coordinator for the Penn State football team had denied all 48 counts alleging that he abused 10 boys over 15 years. 
 
 Investigations will continue in the Sandusky case related to how Penn State handled the case, and some officials are facing perjury charges. NBC's Michael Isikoff, Ron Allen, and Legal Analyst Wes Oliver join MSNBC's Ed Schultz to discuss the details of the case as well as community reaction to the verdict. 
 
 Two grand jury reports accused him of having used his connection to one of the nation's premier college football programs to "groom" the boys, whom he met through his Second Mile charity for troubled children. 
 
 Harper told TODAY that the jurors "were on the same page" when they began their deliberations and had focused on "the facts and determining credibility." 
 
 MSNBC's Ed Schultz talks with Jeff Herman, an attorney who specializes in representing sexual abuse victims, about the difficulties the victims in the Sandusky case would have had in stepping forward with allegations. 
 
 He said the men who testified that they were abused appeared to be telling the truth. 
 
 "I think there were a couple that I felt [were] very credible. I mean, it's hard to judge character on the stand, because you don't know these kids, but most were very credible, I would say all," Harper told TODAY. 
 
 Defense attorney Joe Amendola speaks outside the courthouse in Bellefonte, Pa., after his client, Jerry Sandusky, was found guilty of sexually abusing children. 
 
 He added that the fact that they all told similar stories about Sandusky was "very convincing." 
 
 Harper said they had not convicted Sandusky of rape over the incident witnessed by former Penn State assistant Mike McQueary -- who said he had "no doubt" that Sandusky engaged in anal sex with a boy in a Penn State shower -- because McQueary "did not see any actual penetration." 
 
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 "We did not have the evidence that that very first charge happened," Harper said. "We were in agreement ... that we could not convict him of that first count." 
 
 Sandusky was acquitted on two other counts as well -- one an indecent assault charge involving "Victim 6". The man testified that Sandusky had given him a bear hug in the shower but at one point he just "blacked out." 
 
 The other acquittal was an indecent assault charge related to "Victim 5", who said Sandusky fondled him in the shower. 
 
 The jury had worked "very well" together, he added, discussing misgivings about some parts of the case and discussing "inconsistencies." "We were patient," he said. 
 
 More content from msnbc.com and NBC News: 

 Story highlights "Hopefully, part of the healing process began" with the verdict, a Penn State fan says 
 
 The ex-coach is guilty on 45 of 48 counts for sexually abusing boys over 15 years 
 
 A juror says the witnesses were all very credible, jury was "on the same page" 
 
 Sandusky has been placed on suicide watch, his attorney says 
 
 With the same decision announced on count after count -- guilty, guilty, guilty -- Jerry Sandusky's emphatic denials he had sexually abused boys for years became obsolete, closing a chapter in a saga that has gripped Penn State and the nation. 
 
 After a three-week trial featuring emotional and often graphic testimony from eight of the former Penn State assistant football coach's victims, a 12-person jury late Friday night convicted him on 45 of 48 counts. There were convictions related to all 10 victims alleged by prosecutors, with the three not-guilty verdicts applying to three individuals. 
 
 The verdict prompted people in central Pennsylvania to breathe a sigh of relief, believing a man many called a "monster" would pay the price for his crimes and their impact on his victims, as well as the Penn State community. 
 
 A neighbor of Sandusky's said many people connected with the region and the school needed this verdict in order to move on. 
 
 "We need some sort of realization; we need the word 'guilty' -- that puts a label on what all this is," Susan Strauss said Saturday. 
 
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 Added Tom Bonerbo, a Penn State football fan for more than 40 years, "Hopefully, part of the healing process began with last night's verdict." 
 
 On Saturday, for the first full day in his 68 years, Sandusky was an inmate at the Centre County jail. 
 
 He never took the stand in his own defense -- a decision, his lawyer Joe Amendola said after the verdict, was made because his adopted son Matt Sandusky was ready to testify as a rebuttal witness that he, too, had been sexually abused by Jerry Sandusky. 
 
 Jurors did hear from eight young men who testified that as boys, Sandusky forced them to engage in sexual acts in showers in Penn State's athletics facilities, hotel rooms, the basement of his home and other places. The abuse spanned at least 15 years. 
 
 His conviction prompted the now grown man known as Victim 6 to break down in tears as he hugged prosecutors in the courtroom. 
 
 But, while satisfied, his mother did not claim victory. 
 
 "Nobody wins. We've all lost," she said before hugging her son. 
 
 After Judge John Cleland revoked his bail Friday, Sandusky somberly left the courthouse in handcuffs, silently ducking into a police car as reporters asked him if he had anything to say to his victims. 
 
 He is on what it is commonly called suicide watch, one of his lawyers Karl Rominger told CNN. The move is a precaution and does not mean his client is suicidal, the lawyer insisted, saying the judge and warden just wanted "to put the precautions in place first and then evaluate later." 
 
 Sandusky will be classified at Pennsylvania's Camp Hill diagnostic facility before he is likely sent to a sex offender unit in the state prison system, Rominger said. 
 
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 He should be sentenced in about 90 days, according to Cleland. If he gets more than two years, the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections will determine the prison where Sandusky will serve his time. 
 
 After his verdict was announced, prosecutors Joe McGettigan and Frank Fina spent time answering questions from jurors about the victims and investigation, a source close to the prosecution said. McGettigan was touched by the jurors' interest and engagement, according to the source. 
 
 One of the jurors, Joshua Harper, told NBC's "Today" show that he and the four other men and seven women were "on the same page" as they considered the case and testimony from "very credible" victims. 
 
 "The fact that we saw this corroborating story between all of them, it was very convincing," Harper said. 
 
 Rominger said he "could see tears running down" Sandusky's face when the verdict was read. But Harper, like others in the courtroom, said he saw little evident reaction -- which he thought was "just confirmation" the jury made the right call. 
 
 "Just the look on his face, no real emotion. Just kind of accepting, because he knew it was true," the juror said. 
 
 Yet, his lawyers say, Sandusky is not ready to admit to his crimes and accept defeat. His defense team has already announced plans to appeal. 
 
 "If you win on one of the appeal issues, everything probably falls," Amendola said. "All we have to do is convince an appellate court that one of the issues that we will raise is worthy of a reversal." 
 
 Rominger pointed to "a lot of unique legal issues where (Judge Cleland) made rulings that could be overturned, not because they were, per se, wrong, but because the law in the area was so unclear." 
 
 He also said "substantial constitutional questions" surrounded the prosecution's ability to use an accuser's claims based on hearsay alone. "All the convictions could come back on that ruling alone," Rominger said. 
 
 Defense lawyers repeatedly failed in their attempts to postpone the trial. Rominger disclosed on his radio program Saturday that he and Amendola had asked to withdraw from the case before jury selection, saying they didn't feel adequately prepared to defend Sandusky. The judge denied the request, said Rominger, who added he never mentioned the issue during the trial because of a gag order in place. 
 
 Beyond the appeals process, Sandusky could be on trial again to face more charges -- perhaps tied to claims made by his adopted son Matt or related to alleged sexual abuse that took place outside Centre County, including in hotel rooms in Texas and Florida where he had taken accusers to watch Penn State bowl games. 
 
 And the fallout from the scandal is also far from over for Penn State itself. 
 
 Two of its former administrators -- Vice President Gary Schultz and Athletic Director Tim Curley -- are awaiting trial on charges of perjury and failing to report abuse. Prosecutors say they did not notify police after former graduate football assistant Mike McQueary informed them he saw Sandusky sodomizing a boy in a university shower in 2002. 
 
 Authorities didn't learn about that eyewitness account until years later, and the resulting scandal led to the ouster of iconic head football coach Joe Paterno and university President Graham Spanier. In addition to the testimony of McQueary and a janitor at the school, several victims said that Sandusky repeatedly sexually abused them on Penn State property. 
 
 In a statement released after Friday night's verdict, Penn State signaled it wants to seek resolution -- including some sort of financial settlement -- with the victims. 
 
 "The university wants to provide a forum where the university can privately, expeditiously and fairly address the victims' concerns and compensate them for claims relating to the university," the school said. 
 
 The Sandusky case has infuriated the Penn State community, not just because of the heinous nature of the crimes, but also because some feel the scandal has unfairly defined the university, students say. 
 
 "It's a relief. Now we can begin to heal," Penn State senior Karisa Maxwell said of the verdict. "I've never seen Jerry Sandusky. He has no affect on my education. For people to say he's Penn State is disgusting. That's not the case." 

 Jerry Sandusky's lack of emotion as the guilty verdicts were read at his child sex abuse trial confirmed the verdicts were the right ones, one juror said Saturday. 
 
 In this booking photo released early Saturday morning June 23, 2012 by the Centre County Correctional Facility in Bellefonte, Pa., former Penn State University assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky... (Associated Press) 
 
 Jerry Sandusky leaves the Centre County Courthouse Friday, June 22, 2012, after being found guilty in his sexual abuse trial, in Bellefonte, Pa. Sandusky was convicted of sexually assaulting 10 boys... (Associated Press) 
 
 This photo taken with a fisheye lens shows a crowd of people gathered in front of the Centre County Courthouse as Pennsylvania Attorney General Linda Kelly, center, speaks after former Penn State University... (Associated Press) 
 
 Former Penn State University assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky leaves the Centre County Courthouse with a Centre County Sheriff's deputy after being found guilty of multiple charges of child sexual... (Associated Press) 
 
 FILE - In this Aug. 6, 1999, file photo, Penn State football coach Joe Paterno, right, poses with his defensive coordinator. Jerry Sandusky, during the college football team's media day in State College,... (Associated Press) 
 
 Former Penn State University assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky, right center, arrives with his wife Dottie, left center, at the Centre County Courthouse in Bellefonte, Pa., Friday, June 22, 2012.... (Associated Press) 
 
 Sandusky appeared to be accepting his fate "because he knew it was true," Joshua Harper told NBC's "Today." 
 
 Friday's verdicts brought to an end a shocking scandal that upended the reputation of one of the most prominent sports programs in the U.S., one that had prided itself on integrity and "Success with Honor" amid ethics problems at other schools. 
 
 Sandusky, a former Penn State assistant football coach, was convicted on 45 of 48 child sex abuse counts involving 10 boys over a 15-year period. The 68-year-old faces life in prison at his sentencing, which is weeks away. 
 
 Eight young men, some in tears, testified in sometimes graphic terms about a range of abuse, from kissing and massages to groping, oral sex and anal rape. Prosecutors portrayed Sandusky as a man who used the football team's reputation and the charity he founded for at-risk youth to find and groom his victims. 
 
 "It's hard to judge character on the stand because you don't know these kids," Harper said. `'But most were very credible _ I would say all." 
 
 "It was very convincing," he added. 
 
 Sandusky did not take the stand in his own defense. He half-waved at his family while being led away in handcuffs. 
 
 Someone in the crowd outside the courthouse yelled at him to "rot in hell." Others hurled insults. 
 
 The Penn State program had had a reputation of avoiding the usual pitfalls of American college sports, including payoffs to athletes or academic cheating. 
 
 When the Sandusky case emerged last year, the school and the community suddenly had to face the possibility that school officials, including legendary head football coach Joe Paterno, had covered up reports of child sex abuse. Paterno was swiftly fired after the news emerged that a graduate assistant had told him in 2002 about seeing Sandusky sodomizing a boy in the football team's showers. 
 
 Sandusky repeatedly denied the growing allegations, and his defense suggested at trial that his accusers had a financial motive to make up stories. 
 
 Pennsylvania Attorney General Linda Kelly thanked the accusers who testified, saying she hoped the verdict "helps these victims heal ... and helps other victims of abuse to come forward." 
 
 The accuser known in court papers as Victim 6 broke down in tears upon hearing the verdicts. Afterward, a prosecutor embraced him and said, "Did I ever lie to you?" 
 
 The man, now 25, declined to comment to a reporter afterward. 
 
 "Nobody wins. We've all lost," his mother said. 
 
 One accuser testified that Sandusky molested him in the locker-room showers and in hotels while trying to ensure his silence with gifts. Another spoke of forced oral sex and rape in the basement of Sandusky's home. He said he once tried to scream for help, knowing that Sandusky's wife was upstairs, but assumed the basement must be soundproof. 
 
 Another, a foster child, said Sandusky warned that he would never see his family again if he ever told anyone what happened. 
 
 And just hours after the case went to jurors, lawyers for one of Sandusky's six adopted children, Matt, said he had told authorities that his father abused him and had been prepared to testify. 
 
 In a statement, Penn State praised the accusers who testified and said that it planned to invite the victims of Sandusky's abuse to participate in a private program to address their concerns and compensate them for claims related to the school.
– Jerry Sandusky spent his first night as a prisoner isolated from other inmates and on a precautionary suicide watch, reports CNN. One of the jurors who sent him behind bars, meanwhile, said Sandusky's lack of emotion in court last night spoke volumes. "I looked at him during the reading of the verdict and just the look on his face. No real emotion," said Joshua Harper on NBC's Today. Sandusky was "just kind of accepting, because he knew it was true." Harper added that the eight young men who testified about being abused by the former Penn State coach in years past helped cement the case. "It's hard to judge character on the stand because you don't know these kids," he said. "But most were very credible—I would say all. ... It was very convincing." Most stories about the conviction, including this one by AP, note that one person in the crowd outside the courtroom shouted "Rot in hell!" to Sandusky as he was led away.