With the Benefit of Hindsight...

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Episode Twelve, Part II The Settlements Jun 10, 2021

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Zig and Liz take us deep inside the Penn State Board of Trustees and the decisions that were made regarding the "victim" settlements. While Zig steadfastly sticks to his belief that the entire Penn State scandal was a "perfect storm of self interest" and NOT a conspiracy, he does believe that in the end there was a conspiracy to seal the fate of Joe Paterno. We are joined by two former board members and an undercover accuser to help explain it all.

Episode Twelve, Part I: The Settlements Jun 07, 2021

Show notes

Zig is leaked documents that outline the victim' complaints against Penn State and the financial settlements they receive.
He and Liz introduce us to the "Lock Haven five", and you won't believe their stories.
The diabolical pedophile mastermind, Jerry Sandusky decided to satisfy his deviant sexual appetite on a group of young men from a town nearly 50 miles outside State College.
The settlement documents confirm all of Zigs worst suspicions and provide us with some heavy entertainment value.

Episode Eleven: No Good Deed Jun 03, 2021

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In Episode Eleven we learn about John Ziegler's efforts to get Dottie Sandusky another opportunity to declare her husband's innocence in front of a national audience. All she has to do is call his accusers liars, can she do it? We also learn the long tale of Matt Sandusky. Matt convinced the Sandusky's to adopt him at age 18, he told Sports Illustrated he couldn't imagine what would have become of him if not for the Sandusky's, he went to court to allow his children to visit Jerry Sandusky while Jerry was out on bail and he sat right next to Dottie Sandusky on the first day of Jerry's trial...but then he suddenly realized that he had been abused.

Episode Ten: Freeh As A Bird Jun 01, 2021

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Jerry Sandusky was convicted on June 22, 2012, just seven months after he was charged. In keeping with the torrid pace of this case, just three weeks later the results of an "independent" investigation conducted by former FBI Director Louis Freeh were publicly unveiled.
The Freeh Report concluded that a "culture of corruption" existed within the athletic program and the university and that Penn State administrators, including the now deceased Joe Paterno, President Spanier, Gary Schultz and Tim Curley, covered up the child abuse crimes of Jerry Sandusky in order to protect the reputation of Penn State.
The report was damning and a mortal blow to the ongoing efforts at resuscitating the reputations of Penn State leadership, but...
John Ziegler wasn't buying any of it! Listen as Zig walks us through the master class in media manipulation put on by Louis Freeh, the now laughable findings of The Freeh Report and how he and Penn State legend, Franco Harris took on the NCAA.

Episode Nine, Part III: A Few Bad Men May 27, 2021

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As the Sandusky Trial concludes Liz and Zig analyze closing arguments from both sides and Zig plays defense attorney, delivering a critique of Amendola's defense and presenting his own closing arguments

Episode Nine, Part II: A Few Bad Men May 25, 2021

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In Episode 9 Part II we meet the last of the prosecution witnesses and get introduced to "victim" #9, Sebastian Paden. Paden's accusations against Sandusky are the most egregious of all and they're also the hardest to believe.
Joe Amendola begins to make the case for the defense while Zig and Liz deliver play by play of a performance best captured by the legal term, "ineffective". We hear from Dottie Sandusky but will Joe Amendola put Jerry on the witness stand?

Episode Nine Part I: A Few Bad Men May 18, 2021

Show notes

The fun really starts now as we enter the courthouse in June of 2012 for the trial of Jerry Sandusky . It's been just seven months since his arrest but Sandusky is already on trial. Prosecutors sped this case along at light speed and it seems like John Ziegler is one of the few people who wondered why. The Commonwealth stacked the deck in every possible way and small town defense attorney Joe Amendoa was out-matched, overwhelmed and unprepared for the gauntlet he'd face.
Zig breaks down the play-by-play while Liz painfully absorbs the events of the legal travesty that was the Sandusky trial.

Episode Eight: Known Only to God May 13, 2021

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Episode 8 Description
In episode eight we learn about "the boy in the shower" from the Mike McQueary episode.
His name never went public and prosecutors were intent on making sure his story never did either. His story, had it been told, would have dramatically changed the course of history.
Maybe it's not too late!

Episode Seven: Wicked Tuna May 11, 2021

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With Aaron Fisher locked in as an accuser and the 1998 case with Zach Konstas resurrected prosecutors turned their attention toward finding additional accusers to add weight to their case.
In Episode 7 Liz and Zig take us through the exhaustive process prosecutors undertake trying to locate additional accusers. The state was shocked by their lack of success and turned to the media to help them recruit.
Patriot News reporter, Sara Ganim penned an article released on March 31, 2011 leaking the existence of a grand jury investigation into Jerry Sandusky. Prosecutors exploited the inexperienced Ganim by using her to leak confidential information into the public domain. Ganim went so far as to email Debra McCord, the mother of Zach Konstas warning her that if additional accusers did not emerge soon the case would be dropped.
Magically, four additional accusers emerged shortly thereafter, each of who were known by Zach Konstas and appeared in a photo together in Jerry Sandusky's book Touched.
Mark Pendergrast, author of the book The Most Hated Man In America is interviewed live by Liz and Zig. Pendergrast goes into detail about debunked Repressed Memory Therapy, a treatment that was used with almost all of the accusers and supposedly accounted for their evolving stories and testimony.
We wrap the episode up with our first exposure to the incredible story of "victim" #4 Brett Houtz.

Episode Six: Family Affair, The Aaron Fisher Story May 06, 2021

Show notes

This is the story of Victim #1, Aaron Fisher.
Aaron Fisher had a very difficult childhood filled with abuse.
He never knew his paternal father and the stepfather he endured for five years abused his mother and half sister and eventually went to prison after pleading guilty to over 100 counts of abuse
Fisher's mother Dawn Daniels loved to drink and party. Dawn knew all about "making rain" from an abuse case. It was a complaint made by Dawn that started this entire mess. Was Dawn afraid for her son or was she shopping for a big payday?
She told her neighbor, Josh Fravel, that she was gonna "own that MF's house"
Aaron was a well-known storyteller. His school administrators didn't believe he was abused by Sandusky, his friends didn't believe he was abused by Sandusky either but a young CYS caseworker did and she brought him to therapist Mike Gillum.
Gillum spent months helping Aaron "remember" his abuse and prepping him to give grand jury testimony. Aaron made a terrible witness, so poor a witness that prosecutors enlisted the help of a naïve cub reporter to keep their case alive.
And then they got lucky...

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