Larry Nassar, the disgraced former Michigan State University doctor who was given a de facto life sentence for sexual assault charges, thinks he's been treated unfairly.
Nassar was convicted of seven counts of criminal sexual conduct after pleading guilty. Judge Rosemarie Aquilina in January sentenced him to 40 to 175 years in prison, after allowing dozens of his victims to confront him in court, including Olympians Aly Raisman and Jordyn Wieber. But Nassar's legal team on Tuesday filed an appeal, reported The Detroit News, arguing that Aquilina was biased against him.
"We do not feel the sentencing took place before a fair sentencing judge and we think that is part of Dr. Nassar's right to due process to appear before a court that is fair and impartial, even through sentencing," said Malaika Ramsey-Heath, one of Nassar's attorneys. "Judge Aquilina has indicated that she was not and cannot be fair and impartial."
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Nassar is currently serving a 60-year federal sentence for possessing child pornography, but his attorneys say the additional years were unjustly added by Aquilina, who "had already decided to impose the maximum allowed by the sentence agreement even before the sentencing hearing began."
His victims, many of whom were awarded the Arthur Ashe Courage Award last week at the ESPYs, have applauded Aquilina's decision to allow them to read victim-impact statements. "You helped us rediscover the power that we possess," Raisman told her from onstage. Nassar's legal team, on the other hand, wants Aquilina to be removed from the sentencing appeal, arguing that her appearance at the ESPYs indicated her "bias." Read more at The Detroit News.
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