BELLEFONTE, Pa. — Hours after a jury began deliberating the child sexual abuse charges against Jerry Sandusky, lawyers for one of his adopted children said Thursday that he had been abused by Sandusky and had offered to testify in the case.

“During the trial, Matt Sandusky contacted us and requested our advice and assistance in arranging a meeting with prosecutors to disclose for the first time in this case that he is a victim of Jerry Sandusky’s abuse,” the lawyers, Andrew Shubin and Justine Andronici, said in a statement they released late in the afternoon. “At Matt’s request, we immediately arranged a meeting between him and the prosecutors and investigators.”

The statement gave no details and no indication why prosecutors did not call Matt Sandusky to testify, but it raises the possibility of new criminal charges against Jerry Sandusky, a former Penn State assistant football coach, after this case concludes. Matt Sandusky’s lawyers did not return calls.

One of Jerry Sandusky’s lawyers, Karl Rominger, declined to respond or to say whether the prospect of facing Matt Sandusky’s accusation was one reason Jerry Sandusky did not testify in his defense. He said a judge’s order prevented the lawyers from commenting.