In his first interview since being jailed for raping boys, Jerry Sandusky, a former assistant under disgraced legendary head coach Joe Paterno, says he doesn’t know if Paterno believed Sandusky was a pedophile.
Filmmaker John Ziegler, who conducted the jailhouse interview for his documentary film The Framing of Joe Paterno, shared clips this morning on NBC’s Today Show.
Ziegler says his intention is not to exonerate Sandusky, but rather to get to the truth and clear the name of disgraced Legend Joe Paterno.
“Joe Paterno was railroaded here,” Ziegler said.
In the interview, Sandusky, asked whether Paterno would have let him coach two more years if he really had a suspicion that he was a pedophile, replied:
If he absolutely thought I was, I’d say no. If he had a suspicion, I don’t know how to answer that.
Ziegler keys on a statement by so-called Victim No. 2, who, according to Ziegler, did not implicate Sandusky. Victim No. 2 did not testify in Sandusky’s trial.
Ziegler also asked Sandusky about the infamous shower incident witnessed by assistant coach Mike McQueary in 2001:
Ziegler said he’s spent a year of his life on this documentary and was saddened to hear the Paterno family wants no part of his efforts to clear their patriarch’s name:
Read more about the investigation at Penn State: