Still, it works. The tone here has gone from "Sam eats babies alive" to "Sam was wrong, and maybe committed a crime, but he's was honest about it, and people are taking it way out of proportion".

A little more "I understand now why so many people were pissed off", and a little less "someone else would have done it" would work better, but maybe he's writing what he thinks, and not just what he thinks the best PR move would be. It's hard to honestly admit you were wrong.