Weldon Sandusky graduated from Texas Tech University in 1968 with a B.A. in English, and subsequently earned an M.A. in English and a law degree from the University of Wisconsin. Divorce followed as did commitment to the private psychiatric hospital, Timberlawn, in Dallas, and, later, the State Mental Asylum in Terrell , Texas. He petitioned for habeas corpus claiming a conspiracy to unlawfully commit him existed in violation of his constitutional rights