Attorneys for Jerry Sandusky argued in court today that trial judge John Cleland should have highlighted for jurors the failure of Sandusky's sex abuse victims to make prompt reports of the alleged crimes to police or other authorities.

In most of the 10 cases at the heart of the former Penn State football coach's June trial, victims only came forward after they were first approached by police investigators, often more than 10 years after the assaults occurred.

Sandusky's first appeals hearing was held today in Bellefonte.

Attorney Norris Gelman argued the current Pennsylvania standard is for jurors to be told that a failure to file a prompt report of a crime can be considered by jurors in their evaluations of a victims' credibility, and in fact whether a crime even occurred at all.

During this morning's hearing, Cleland noted that the importance of the point varies from case to case.

But Gelman argued the judge erred in not putting the issue out there for the jurors to consider, especially in a case like this that hinged so heavily on the credibility of the victims' testimony.

Prosecutors countered that the so-called "prompt reporting" instruction would be more relevant in a case where there is only one victim making allegations.

But the weight of the point diminishes, Senior Deputy Attorney General Frank Fina argued, in a case with multiple witnesses from different time periods describing very consistent patterns of behavior by Sandusky, plus independent eyewitnesses to two other cases.

"I think that significantly changes it," Fina said, adding the case's timeline was also comprehensively covered in opening and closing statements as prosecutors and defense lawyers discussed the evolution of the trial.

Jurors had ample opportunity, Fina said, to apply their common sense to all the elements of the case.

Many advocates for child sexual abuse victims have long argued that delays in reporting a crime are very common in these cases, and put them in a whole different realm from a robbery or burglary, for example.

"The reality is a delayed report is normal in child sexual assault cases," said Kristen Houser, spokesman for the Pennsylvania Coalition Against Rape who was in attendance for the Sandusky appeal today.

All the conditions in the Sandusky case converged to make it even more likely, Houser added, from the fact that these boys were making their accusations against a sports-world celebrity to the sometimes-realized fears of "homophobic taunting" by peers at school.

Houser said this is an area where the state's judiciary needs to update jury charges, but added she does not believe it will affect Sandusky's conviction in part because state law itself now permits the filing of charges in child sexual abuse cases long after victims have reached adulthood.