Larry Nassar listens as Rachael Denhollander gives her victim impact statement Friday, Feb. 2, 2018, in Eaton County Circuit Court, the second and final day of victim impact statements in Judge Janet Cunningham’s courtroom in Charlotte, Mich. He will be sentenced Monday. (Matthew Dae Smith/Lansing State Journal via AP)
CHARLOTTE, Mich. — Days of emotional testimony in two Michigan courtrooms are wrapping up with a final sentence for former sports doctor Larry Nassar, whose serial sexual abuse of girls and young women has shaken Michigan State University and elite sports associations.
Nassar, 54, is returning to court Monday in Eaton County, Michigan. He listened to dozens of victims for two days last week and was almost attacked by a man whose three daughters said they were molested.
Nassar pleaded guilty to penetrating girls with ungloved hands when they sought treatment for injuries at Twistars, a gymnastics club that was run by a 2012 U.S. Olympic coach. Nassar already has been sentenced to 40 to 175 years in prison in another county and is starting his time behind bars with a 60-year federal term for child pornography crimes. He worked for Michigan State and USA Gymnastics, which trains Olympians.
Randy Margraves was tackled by sheriff’s deputies Friday before he could pummel Nassar in court. He said he wanted just a minute in a locked room with the “demon.”
“This cannot be a lawless society. I know that,” Margraves, 58, told reporters during a public apology. “I lost control, but I gained control later in a holding cell.”
More than 260 women and girls say they were assaulted by Nassar, some as far back as the 1990s. Most victims who wanted to speak publicly or submit a statement did so earlier during Nassar’s seven-day court hearing in Ingham County, including 2012 Olympic teammates Aly Raisman, Jordyn Wieber and McKayla Maroney.
The scandal has rocked Michigan State, which has been accused of repeatedly missing opportunities to stop Nassar, who had a campus office and was a revered figure in sports medicine.
Lou Anna Simon resigned as Michigan State’s president on Jan. 24 and athletic director Mark Hollis followed two days later. The longtime leader of USA Gymnastics, Steve Penny, quit last March, and all board members recently stepped down at the demand of the U.S. Olympic Committee. A law firm has been hired to investigate how the USOC responded to its knowledge of allegations against Nassar.