Paul Sancya/AP
- Former USA Gymnastics team doctor Larry Nassar wrote a letter saying he didn’t think he could mentally handle four days of victim-impact statements during his sentencing for sexual assault.
- Judge Rosemarie Aquilina scolded Nassar while reading excerpts of the letter aloud, saying his four-day sentencing could not compare to the lives he ruined.
- Nassar has already been sentenced to 60 years for child pornography charges and is expected to receive 40 years to life for sexual assault charges.
Larry Nassar, the former USA Gymnastics and Michigan State University doctor accused of sexual assault and molestation, was scolded on Thursday by Ingham County Circuit Court Judge Rosemarie Aquilina over a letter he wrote before his four-day sentencing.
According to Matt Mencarini of The Lansing State Journal, Nassar wrote in the letter that he wasn’t sure he could “mentally” handle four days of victim-impact statements during his sentencing. According to Mencarini around 125 women and girls are expected to make victim-impact statements during the sentencing, with the number growing each day.
According to Mencarini, it’s unclear to whom the letter was addressed. Judge Aquilina read parts of the letter aloud on Thursday, criticizing Nassar for certain parts of the letter.
“You spent thousands of hours perpetrating sexual assault on minors,” Aquilina said to Nassar.
“Spending five or six days listening to them is significantly minor considering the thousands of hours of pleasure you had at their hands, ruining their lives,” Aquilina said (via Yahoo’s Dan Wetzel).
Nassar reportedly wrote that the court had turned his sentencing into a “media circus.” In video shot by The Lansing State Journal, Aquilina read an excerpt of the letter in which Nassar claimed Aquilina wanted him to sit in the witness box next to her so that the media cameras would be on her.
In December, Nassar was sentenced to 60 years in prison on child pornography charges. He faces 40 years to life on charges of sexual assault, according to Mencarini.
While reading the letter, Aquilina told Nassar, “This isn’t worth the paper it’s written on.”
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