JUSTICE SERVED
Judge sentences former doctor for USA Gymnastics to 40 to 175 years in prison after 156 of his victims recounted his crimes at his hearing
After seven days of listening to more than 160 girls, women and parents describe the impact of his sexual abuse, disgraced gymnastics doctor Larry Nassar turned to the courtroom Wednesday and quietly attempted an apology, saying, “There are no words that can describe the depth and breadth for how sorry I am for what has occurred.”
Then Judge Rosemarie Aquilina read from a letter Nassar wrote last week in which he expressed very different sentiments. In the letter, Nassar complained about the length of his sentencing hearing, maintained that his touching
of patients was legitimate medical therapy, and termed some of the alleged victims’ accounts “fabricated.” As Aquilina read excerpts, some in the courtroom gasped.
“My treatments worked, and those patients that are now speaking out were the same ones that praised me,” Aquilina read Nassar’s words. “The media convinced them that everything I did was wrong and bad. … Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.”
The judge then addressed Nassar directly.
“It was not treatment what you did; it was not medical,” Aquilina replied. “I wouldn’t send my dogs to you, sir.”
Finally, Aquilina deliv-
“It was not treatment what you did; it was not medical. I wouldn’t send my dogs to you, sir. I’ve just signed your death warrant.” — Judge Rosemarie Aquilina in her sentencing of Larry Nassar
ered her sentence — a minimum of 40 years, a maximum of 175 years in Michigan State state prison — effectively guaranteeing a life sentence for the 54-yearold former Michigan State and USA Gymnastics team physician, who also faces a 60-year sentence for federal child pornography crimes.
“I’ve just signed your death warrant,” she said.
And with that, the judge brought an end to an extraordinary sentencing hearing that introduced fresh national attention and outrage to a case whose core facts have been well-established for nearly a year.
Originally expected to take four days and feature 88 statements, the hearing ultimately spanned seven days and included testimony from 156 accusers, as dozens more women — many emboldened by the sight of the cathartic impact the statements appeared to have on others — came forward wishing to confront Nassar. They told of the shattered psyches, the suicide attempts, and the torturous guilt that resulted from Nassar’s abuse, which typically involved him, under the guise of pain therapy, slipping his hand under their clothes and penetrating, probing and fondling them.
Wednesday’s sentencing featured the first extended commentary from the prosecutor on the case, Angela Povilaitis, who, before Aquilina issued her decision, read a statement summarizing how Nassar escaped prosecution for so long, foreshadowing potential fallout still to come at the organizations through which he accessed his victims.
“Every previous time there had been an allegation, nothing happened,” Povilaitis said. “His lies worked. This court heard from several women … who were initially determined to be confused, or to be liars. He was believed over these children.
“What does it say about our society when victims do come forward and they are automatically met with skepticism and doubt, treated as liars until proven true?,” asked Povilaitis, who then turned to the dozens of Nassar accusers behind her in the courtroom and, her voice breaking with emotion, thanked them.
“Thank you for coming forward and for trusting us,” she said. “We have seen the worst of humanity and the best in the last couple of days … how one voice can start a movement, how a reckoning can deliver justice.”
Last week, Michigan State acquiesced to requests from victims and their attorneys for an independent review of the university’s culpability for Nassar’s crimes. The state Attorney General’s Office has agreed to conduct the inquiry. On Tuesday, the NCAA sent Michigan State a letter, expressing its interest in potentially opening an investigation into how athletics officials responded to concerns about Nassar.
On Monday, three top USA Gymnastics board members resigned, and then Tuesday, AT&T became the latest sponsor to drop USA Gymnastics.
On Wednesday, moments after the sentence was announced, the chief executive of the United States Olympic Committee announced his organization would also launch an independent investigation of what officials in the Olympic community knew about Nassar. Among Nassar’s accusers
are Olympians Simone Biles, McKayla Maroney, Gabby Douglas, Aly Raisman, Jordyn Wieber and Jamie Dantzscher, and they’ve claimed Nassar abused them at the Karolyi Ranch outside Houston, and at international competitions around the globes, including the Olympics.
Wednesday’s hearing began with three final victim’s statements, the last coming from Rachael Denhollander, the Louisville, Ky., woman whose decision in 2016 to file a police report and contact the Indianapolis Star ultimately brought about Nassar’s prosecution.
“He did this with my own mother in the room, carefully and perfectly obstructing her view so she would not know what she was doing. … It was clear to me this was something Larry did regularly,” said Denhollander, who, as a 15-year-old club gymnast from nearby Kalamazoo, visited Nassar for treatment. “As Larry was abusing me each time, I thought it was fine, because I thought I could trust the adults around me.”
Denhollander spent much of her statement addressing officials at Michigan State, detailing allegations made by other women against Nassar that went ignored: a 1997 complaint to a Michigan State gymnastics coach, a 2000 complaint to trainers for the softball team, another early 2000s complaint from a volleyball player who said her teammates referred to Nassar as “the crotch doc,” and the 2014 Title IX investigation that concluded the woman didn’t understand the difference between legitimate medical treatment and sexual assault.
In response to these accusations, Michigan State’s attorneys, in statements, have said no one at the university knew Nassar was sexually assaulting his patients until Denhollander came forward in 2016. Denhollander is among more than 140 girls and women suing the school, as well as USA Gymnastics, over Nassar’s abuse.
“The reason that everyone who heard about Larry’s abuse didn’t believe it is because they did not listen,” Denhollander said. “No one knew, according to your definition of ‘know,’ because no one handled the reports of abuse properly.”