Former Penn State football coach Jerry Sandusky still maintains his innocence twelve years after being convicted on child sex abuse charges.
In a new interview published on Tuesday by the Daily Mail, Sandusky claimed that he has new evidence that his victims were coached and manipulated by prosecutors and accuses investigators of being motivated by money.
The paper interviewed Sandusky from the Laurel Highlands State Correctional Institution in Somerset, Pennsylvania, where he is serving a 30 to 60-year prison sentence after being found guilty on 45 counts of sexually abusing children when he was operating his Second Mile charity organization.
Jerry Sandusky entered the Centre County Courthouse to appeal his child sex abuse conviction on August 12, 2016, in Bellefonte, Pennsylvania. Sandusky was facing a prison sentence for his conviction in June 2012 on 45 counts of child sexual abuse, including while he was the defensive coordinator for the Penn State college football team. (Justin K. Aller/Getty Images)
“I never ever in my life ever thought about molesting anybody,” Sandusky, 80, told the Mail. “I was accused of heinous crimes, which I’ve never committed. My wife was my only partner in sex, and that was after marriage.
“I was in disbelief in terms of how this happened. Why were they [accusers] saying things that were so inconsistent with what they had said before? I believe I was wrongfully convicted by inconsistent, perjured testimony,” he added.
His lawyers are attempting to persuade the courts to re-hear the case based on the questionable legitimacy of the repressed memory therapy used to elicit testimony from some of the children.
“We now have evidence that there was repressed memory therapy, and we have an expert who’s willing to testify about how to analyze what happened,” Sandusky said.
“Their stories changed. The point is that every last one changed,” he insisted.
The guilty verdict also impacted the college. Penn State has paid out more than $100 million to more than 30 who were identified as victims of the abuse.
Former Penn State assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky leaves the Centre County Courthouse after being sentenced in his child sex abuse case on October 9, 2012, in Bellefonte, Pennsylvania. (Patrick Smith/Getty Images)
Sandusky railed at prosecution witness Aaron Fisher, who he claims changed his story after therapy for financial reasons. Fisher received $7.5 million from Penn State and wrote a book. Sandusky claimed this is evidence that Fisher changed his story for the money.
“I feel that they’ve made some decisions; they had a chance to do it the hard way, making an effort in school, studying, working,” he told the Mail.
“They turned that down for an easy road with allegations and to make millions of dollars – that’s not going to bring them happiness,” he added.
“That’s very unfortunate for them. I don’t know that much about how they’re living or whatever. But maybe they ought to think about what they’ve done. And all the people who have been hurt.”
A hearing on Sandusky’s filing is set for July 26.
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