Jerry Sandusky is a name that all of us will remember forever but wish we wouldn’t. It is certainly a name that Sue Paterno will have engrained in her life forever.
On Friday we released a copy of the letter that Sue Paterno, the wife of Penn State legend Joe Paterno, released telling the public that she was openly challenging the Freeh report. The Freeh report was a report of the findings of those who were allegedly involved with the Sandusky scandal. Today, on ESPN Outside the Lines, her team of investigators released their own report.
Three indepent men picked apart every aspect of the Freeh report. These men were former Govenor of Pennsyvania Richard Thornburgh, former FBI Agent and former prosecutor of child sex crimes Jim Clemente, and attorney Sollers.
Their assessment was a fair one and was backed up sufficiently.
Thornburgh started off the discussion by saying that each of the men had respect for Freeh and weren’t attacking him personally but his report. Thornburgh said that Freeh’s report was “incomplete”, “full of inaccuracies”, and that it “fails to reach conclusions”. He also mentioned that the report claimed to have interviewed 430 people but Thornburgh claimed that none of those 430 interviews were not with any “principal persons”. “The fact of the matter is, Paterno was never charged with any criminal offense,” he said of the late Paterno. “It’s just not fair.”
Former FBI agent Clement specialized in child sex crimes during his time with the FBI. When asked who was to blame for the entire incident, he pointed the finger directly at Sandusky. “Sandusky got away with it because he is a skillful manipulator,” he said. He also claimed that the Freeh report showed an “uneducated view of child sex abuse.” He went on to say that “Freeh got it all wrong.” He claimed that Sandusky has fooled the entire country with a facade that he was a nice and caring guy. He ended his statements with a simple statement that packed a punch. “Blaming it on the culture of football is absolutely wrong. Blaming it on Penn State University is absolutely wrong.”
Sollers is the lone active attorney out of the group. He attacked the report by saying, “The Freeh group gave motives to people they never met.” Like the others, he made it a point to say that the Freeh report’s conclusions were wrong. When asked about the legal side of the issue, he said there were some issues. He stated that the NCAA simply took the Freeh report at its word and acted accordingly. “The notion that the NCAA would adopt the Freeh report verbatim is just wrong.” When asked if a possible law suit was in the future, he said, “We’re considering all options.”
Freeh has said in response that he stands by the initial report.
This is a battle that is far from won. Sue Paterno made it clear in her letter that this wasn’t about Paterno’s image or his legacy, but about the children involved and the children in the future. The men who gave their report this morning were all in agreeance with that notion.
You can view the the expert’s reports on Paterno.com.
All of these quotes came from the ESPN Outside the Lines special report that aired at 9 am ET.
Photo Credit: abcnews.go.com
