Judge Sentences Disgraced USA Gymnastics Doctor to Decades in Prison, Tells Him “I Just Signed Your Death Warrant”

Ex-USA Gymnastics, Michigan State University doctor Larry Nassar sentenced to 40-175 years in prison for sexually abusing young women he was supposed to be treating for injuries. Judge tells Nassar she doesn’t want him to ever walk out of prison.

Cheyna Roth/MPRN

A Michigan judge has sentenced a former USA Gymnastics team doctor to between 40 and 175 years in prison for sexually abusing young girls.

Larry Nassar pleaded guilty to 10 counts of first-degree criminal sexual conduct in Ingham and Eaton Michigan Counties.

He was a physician for Michigan State University and the USA Gymnastics team.

Over the past week more than 150 girls and women gave statements at Nassar’s sentencing hearing in Ingham County about how he had molested them when he was supposed to be treating them.

That included Olympic athletes like McKayla Maroney.

She said Nassar had “left scars on my psyche that may never go away.”

At the emotional sentencing hearing Judge Rosemarie Aquilina made it clear she does not want Nassar to ever walk out of prison again.

“I just signed your death warrant,” Aquilina says.

Nassar was already given 60 years in prison for possessing child pornography and faces another sentencing on abuse charges in Eaton County.

The case led to USA Gymnastics suspending a team coach, the leadership of its Board of Directors resigning and calls for Michigan State University President Lou Anna Simon to follow suit.

Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette is also reviewing how the university handled complaints about Nassar.

 

Here’s Judge Aquilina’s full statement to Nassar as she sentenced him to prison:

Author

  • Quinn Klinefelter
    Quinn Klinefelter is a Senior News Editor at 101.9 WDET. In 1996, he was literally on top of the news when he interviewed then-Senator Bob Dole about his presidential campaign and stepped on his feet.