Paterno Reaches Out to D.C. Defense Attorney

Attorney represented President George H.W. Bush

Former Penn State football coach Joe Paterno has contacted a prominent Washington D.C. defense attorney, NBC News reports.

Sources told NBC News that Paterno reached out to J. Sedgwick Sollers, a partner at the firm King and Spalding.  However, a spokesperson for Paterno told NBC News that no formal agreement has been reached, and that "no lawyer has been retained."

Paterno has not been charged with any crime yet, but was fired after the revelation that a former senior member of his coaching staff, Jerry Sandusky, had been charged in a child sex abuse investigation.

Paterno told investigators that he reported a sodomy allegation against Sandusky to athletic director Tim Curley in 2002, after he was informed by then graduate assistant Mike McQueary.  Curley and another school administrator, Gary Schultz, have been charged for perjury and failure to report allegations of child abuse in the case, but no criminal charges have been filed against Paterno.

J. Sedgewick Sollers lists prominent pharmaceutical firms like GlaxoSmithKline among his former clients. He also represented former president George H.W. Bush during an investigation into the Iran-Contra affair.

Although no criminal charges have been filed against Paterno, he could yet be sued in civil court by the victims of the alleged abuse.

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