This is everything you need to know about how sentencing went for former Olympic doctor Larry Nassar, accused of molesting over 150 girls:
This GIF of Judge Aquilina throwing away the letter Larry Nassar wrote the court about how hard it is for him to listen to victim testimonies PRETTY MUCH SAYS IT ALL. pic.twitter.com/5HB9WMaPqU
— Ellie Hall (@ellievhall) January 24, 2018
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We already knew the judge, Rosemarie Aquilina, used her position to express support for the women and girls chose to provide a victim impact statement — and this was after she allowed 158 people to provide those victim statements. But now she’s handed down Nassar’s sentence, giving him 40 to 175 years behind bars. And she didn’t mince any words during sentencing saying, “I’ve just signed your death warrant,” and, “You do not deserve to walk outside of a prison ever again.”
Judge Aquilina also read from a letter written by Nassar after he’d agreed to plead guilty to 10 counts of first-degree criminal sexual conduct to demonstrate Nassar’s attempt at manipulation. His words are just the worse victim-blaming claptrap you can possibly imagine, but here’s some of the worst of it for you to read:
Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned. The media is sensationalizing this. The [attorney general’s office] forced me to [plea guilty]. I was so manipulated by the AG, and now Aquilina, and all I wanted was to minimize stress to everyone. The FBI investigated [my Olympic treatments] in 2015 because nothing was wrong. Now they’re seeking the media attention and financial reward.
If that doesn’t turn your stomach, nothing will.
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Because Judge Aquilina has become the avatar of every person looking on in shock and disgust at the horrors Nassar was able to get away with for so long, she also used sentencing to encourage an investigation into all the parties responsible for letting this happen:
“Inaction is inaction. Silence is indifference. Justice requires a voice. And that’s what happened in this court. 158 buckets of water were placed on your so-called ‘match’ that got out of control,” Aquilina said. “There has to be a massive investigation as to why there was inaction. Why there was silence. Justice requires more than what I can do on this bench.”
Now we wait for the consequences for Michigan State and USA Gymnastics to come rolling in.
Kathryn Rubino is an editor at Above the Law. AtL tipsters are the best, so please connect with her. Feel free to email her with any tips, questions, or comments and follow her on Twitter (@Kathryn1).