Jerry Sandusky has appealed a decision to revoke his $59,000-a-year pension.
 
Sandusky’s attorney Charles Benjamin's five-page letter to the system's board, dated November 21^st was obtained Wednesday by The Associated Press through the state Right-to-Know Law.
 
Benjamin argues there isn’t a legal basis for the action by the Pennsylvania State Employees' Retirement Board.
Benjamin further notes Sandusky's pension rights became vested in 1969 and were not changed by later amendments to state law and argues that Sandusky, a Penn State assistant football coach who retired in 1999, was not a university employee when tougher forfeiture rules were passed in 2004.
 
After Sandusky was sentenced in October to 30 to 60 years in state prison for child sexual abuse the retirement system stated that Sandusky's convictions for involuntary deviate sexual intercourse and indecent assault triggered the forfeiture provisions of the state's Public Employee Pension Forfeiture Act.
 
The law, first passed in 1978, was amended in 2004 so that it applies to any public school employee convicted of a sex crime against a student.