A Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court ruled Friday that the state must restore disgraced Penn State football coach Jerry Sandusky’s pension.
According to the Associated Press, the court overturned the State Employees’ Retirement Board previous ruling, which “wrongly concluded Sandusky was a Penn State employee when he committed the crimes that were the basis for the pension forfeiture.”
The prior ruling revoked Sandusky’s $4,900 a month pension the day he was found guilty of 45 counts of varying degrees of sexual abuse.
Richard A. Beran — Sandusky’s attorney — called the original Retirement Board ruling “certainly one that probably pleased the public in light of the current state of the Pennsylvania pension system, but under the law it was very clear he was entitled to it and his wife is entitled to the pension if Jerry predeceases her.”
“Perhaps a majority lacked the courage to apply the law as stated,” he added.
Sandusky is currently serving his 30-60 year sentence at Greene State Prison in Pennsylvania, where he is pursuing an appeal of his conviction.