Former Michigan doctor Larry Nassar was sentenced to 40 to 175 years in prison after being accused of sexual abuse by more than 150 women.
“It is my privilege, on counts 1, 2, 5, 8, 10 and 18, and 24, to sentence you to 40 years, and when I look at my cheat sheet, 40 years is 480 months…,” said Judge Rosemarie Aquilina, adding that she was giving him a sentence of 175 years in prison. She said, “I just signed your death warrant.”
“You do not deserve to walk outside a prison ever again,” she added. “You have done nothing to control those urges.”
According to the Chicago Tribune, more than 150 victims gave statements accusing the former Michigan sports doctor of sexual abuse of Olympic gymnasts and other young women. Nassar faced a minimum prison term of 25 to 40 years.
The accusers, many of them children, said they trusted Nassar to care for them when they had injuries. He allegedly used a sheet or his body to block the view of any parent in the room. Nassar, 54, pleaded guilty to assaulting seven people in the Lansing area.
“I’ll tell you that Larry is sorry for what he’s done, but we realize that these words are completely inconsequential to those listening,” Nassar’s attorney said in his closing statement. “Larry’s soul is broken.”
“Your words these past several days have had a significant emotional affect on myself and have shaken me to my core,” Nassar said, addressing his accusers. “There are no words that can describe the depth and breath of how sorry I am for what has occurred. An acceptable apology is impossible to write and convey. I will carry your words with me for the rest of my days.”
“You are no longer victims — you are survivors,” Judge Aquilina told the accusers. Later, she read a letter Nassar had submitted to the court last week, saying everything he did was for “medical reasons.” In it, he also complained of his treatment in a separate child pornography case and said his accusers were seeking media attention, adding, “Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.”
After audible gasps from the courtroom, the judge asked him straight-up if he was guilty, to which he responded that his guilty plea still stands. According to the New York Times, Nassar has already been sentenced to 60 years in federal prison for child pornography convictions.
“You did this for your pleasure and your control. This letter … tells me that you have not yet owned what had you did, that you still think that somehow you are right, that you are a doctor, that you’re entitled, that you don’t have to listen, and that you did treatment,” Judge Aquilina said. “I wouldn’t send my dogs to you, sir.”
“Sir, you knew you had a problem, that is clear to me,” the judge added. “You could’ve taken yourself away from temptation, and you did not. Worse yet, there isn’t a survivor who hasn’t come in here saying how world-renowned you were. I trust what they say… Your decision to assault was precise, calculated, manipulative, devious, despicable.”
Former Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney, who was president and CEO of the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympic Games Organizing Committee, expressed his support for the survivors.
Over the years, I’ve witnessed the courage of athletes in Olympic Games but I’ve never seen greater Olympic courage than that shown by our women gymnasts in the courtroom in Lansing, Michigan.
— Mitt Romney (@MittRomney) January 24, 2018