Carlos Osorio/AP
- The former USA Gymnastics and Michigan State doctor Larry Nassar was sentenced to up to 175 years in prison on sexual-assault charges.
- During the sentencing, Judge Rosemarie Aquilina read a letter Nassar had written, saying it proved he did not “get it” and was not sincere in his apologies for his actions.
- Aquilina told Nassar “I just signed your death warrant” after giving him his sentence.
The former USA Gymnastics and Michigan State doctor Larry Nassar was sentenced on Wednesday to up to 175 years in prison on sexual-assault charges.
Nassar’s extraordinary sentencing hearing in Ingham County Circuit Court lasted over a week, with more than 100 women giving victim-impact statements about assault and molestation they said Nassar committed. Nassar in December was sentenced to 60 years in prison for child-pornography charges.
On Wednesday, Judge Rosemarie Aquilina resurfaced a letter Nassar wrote about the sentencing hearing. She had previously read the letter during the sentencing. In the letter — it’s unclear to whom it was addressed — Nassar said he didn’t think he could “mentally” handle four days of victim-impact statements. He also said Aquilina had made the sentencing a “media circus.”
Aquilina on Wednesday said she wanted to bring the letter back up because she believed its contents showed that Nassar’s apology was not sincere.
In the letter, Nassar insisted his treatments on girls were medical, not sexual. He criticized the attorney general in the case and Aquilina — at one point writing “Hell hath no fury like a woman’s scorn” — over the handling of the case.
Aquilina said the letter proved that Nassar did not “get it.” Aquilina called Nassar “manipulative,” saying he knew he had a problem and did not distance himself from the situation.
“I wouldn’t send my dogs to you, sir,” Aquilina said.
“Your decision to assault was precise, calculated, manipulative, devious, despicable,” she said. “I don’t have to add words because your survivors have said all of that.”
Upon sentencing Nassar, Aquilina told him: “I just signed your death warrant.”
On Wednesday, Nassar read an apology statement to the court, saying: “I will carry your words with me for the rest of my days … There are no words to describe the depth and breadth of how sorry I am for what has occurred. An acceptable apology to all of you is impossible to write and convey.”
Aquilina called it her “privilege” to sentence Nassar and credited the victims’ statements and the media’s handling of the case.
“Sir, you do not deserve to walk outside of a prison ever again,” Aquilina said.
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