Ex-USA Gymnastics doctor Larry Nassar sentenced to 175 years for sexual abuse - Hindustan Times
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Ex-USA Gymnastics doctor Larry Nassar sentenced to 175 years for sexual abuse

Reuters, Lansing | ByReuters
Jan 25, 2018 03:57 PM IST

Former USA Gymnastics team doctor pleaded guilty in November to seven counts of first-degree sex assault.

Disgraced long-time USA Gymnastics team doctor Larry Nassar was sentenced on Wednesday to up to 175 years in prison for molesting young female gymnasts, following days of wrenching testimony from about 160 of his victims, including Olympic medalists.

Larry Nassar (C), a former team USA Gymnastics doctor who pleaded guilty in November 2017 to sexual assault charges, listens as he is sentenced in Lansing.(Reuters)
Larry Nassar (C), a former team USA Gymnastics doctor who pleaded guilty in November 2017 to sexual assault charges, listens as he is sentenced in Lansing.(Reuters)

“I’ve just signed your death warrant,” Ingham County Circuit Court Judge Rosemarie Aquilina told Nassar in imposing the penalty, after delivering a searing rebuke of his years of abuse.

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READ | Larry Nassar pleads guilty to sexually assaulting gymnasts, judge tells he will be in ‘darkness’

Some victims dabbed their eyes after Aquilina spoke, while Rachael Denhollander, the first victim to come forward publicly in 2016, smiled.

Nassar, 54, pleaded guilty in November to seven counts of first-degree sex assault in Ingham County, as well as three additional charges in Eaton County, where he will be sentenced next week. He is already serving a 60-year sentence in federal prison for child pornography convictions.

READ | USA Gymnastics top directors resign in wake of abuse scandal

Before the sentence was announced, Nassar apologised to his victims, telling them, “I will carry your words with me for the rest of my days.”

But Aquilina dismissed his statement as insincere, reading aloud from a letter Nassar wrote to her in which he claimed he was a good doctor who was “manipulated” into pleading guilty, drawing gasps from courtroom spectators. Nassar also claimed his accusers fabricated claims to gain money and fame and wrote, “Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.”

READ | Larry Nassar abused my trust, he abused my body: US gymnast on ex-team doctor

“This letter tells me you still do not own what you did,” Aquilina said, after angrily tossing the sheet of paper aside. “I wouldn’t send my dogs to you, sir.”

The sentencing followed an extraordinary weeklong hearing that saw a parade of Nassar victims tell their stories in raw and unflinching terms, describing how he used medical treatments and their own trust to justify penetrating their bodies with his fingers.

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