Report: Sandusky, wife blame son

Report: Sandusky, wife blame son

Published Oct. 11, 2012 1:00 a.m. ET

Jerry Sandusky and his wife sent letters to the judge before the former football coach's conviction blaming their adopted son and others for their humiliation.

The Sanduskys portrayed themselves as victims of a vast conspiracy, blaming powerful forces at Penn State University, police, prosecutors and the media, CNN reported Thursday.

The couple's letters were mentioned in court during Sandusky's sentencing Tuesday but not read. Judge John Cleland and the Centre County Court subsequently made them public.

In them, Sandusky expressed little sympathy for the 10 boys he was convicted of molesting, instead shifting the blame to the youths' lives while growing up in broken homes.

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"Nobody mentioned the impact of abandonment, neglect, abuse, insecurity and conflicting messages that the biological parents might have had in this," he wrote.

Sandusky, 68, claimed that he gave up his plan to defend himself when his adopted son Matt "switched sides."

Matt Sandusky, who was 18 when he was adopted by Jerry and Dottie Sandusky 15 years ago, did not testify but told investigators that Sandusky had molested him, too. His relationship with the Sanduskys fell apart as the trial came to an end.

"People need to know what kind of person he is," Dottie Sandusky wrote. "We have forgiven him many times for all he has done to our family, thinking that he was changing his life, but he would always go back to his stealing and lies. He has been diagnose (sic) Bipolar, but he refuses to take his medicine."

Jerry Sandusky likened his arrest and subsequent trial to an athletic contest.

"There were so many people involved in the orchestration of this conviction (media, investigators, prosecutors, 'the system,' Penn State and the accusers.) It was well done. They won!" he wrote. "When I thought about how it had transpired, I wondered what they had won. I thought of the methods, decisions and allegations. I relived the inconsistencies and dishonest testimonies."

He insisted the verdict would have been different with more diligent digging by the prosecution and media.

"What would be the outcome if all the accusers and their families who were investigated?" he wrote. "I knew the answer. All their issues would surface. They would no longer be these poor, innocent people as portrayed."

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