LANSING, MICHIGAN ¨C The 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 in a Michigan courtroom from about 160 of his victims, including Olympic gold medalists.
¡°I 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.
¡°It is my honor and privilege to sentence you because you do not deserve to walk outside of a prison ever again.¡±
Some victims dabbed their eyes after Aquilina spoke, although the audience obeyed the judge¡¯s instruction to remain quiet following her pronouncement.
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.
Before the sentence was announced, Nassar apologized to his victims, telling them, ¡°I will carry your words with me for the rest of my days.¡±
But Aquilina angrily 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 the courtroom.
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