Judge Rosemarie Aquilina ruling a huge victory for Larry Nassar survivors
Ingham County Circuit Court Chief Judge Richard Garcia recently shot down a motion by the new attorneys of 55-year-old disgraced former USA Gymnastics and Michigan State University physician Larry Nassar, Malaika Ramsey-Heath and Jacqueline McCann, to have Nassar resentenced in Ingham County, Michigan by a judge other than Judge Rosemarie Aquilina.
This motion came as a result of the fact that Nassar was physically assaulted within hours of his release into the general population of United States Penitentiary, Tucson in Tucson, Arizona, where he is serving the 60-year federal prison sentence that he was issued this past December on three child pornography charges by U.S. District Judge Janet Neff.
Judge Garcia shooting down this motion is a huge win for the hundreds of people who have accused Nassar of sexual assault. Nassar has been accused of sexual assault under the guise of medical treatment by more than 330 individuals, many of whom female gymnasts, for more than two decades. He was finally arrested in December of 2016.
The fact that Nassar's attorneys even considered blaming Judge Aquilina for the fact that Nassar was attacked in prison serving a sentence that she didn't give him was a disgrace in itself, and the fact that they filed a motion to have him resentenced in Ingham County by a judge other than Judge Aquilina was nothing more than a disgraceful ploy.
Judge Aquilina sentenced Nassar to between 40 and 175 years in state prison on seven sexual assault charges back in January following a seven-day sentencing hearing during which victim impact statements were delivered in court by 156 of the people who have accused Nassar of sexual assault. A total of 13 other victim impact statements were delivered in court on the behalves of those who have accused Nassar of sexual assault.
But because of the fact that Nassar was attacked in prison, his attorneys tried to make him out as the victim simply because Judge Aquilina made some of the comments that she made about Nassar during this sentencing hearing in her responses to the victim impact statements.
Here is what Nassar's attorneys wrote, according to the Lansing State Journal.
"Judge Aquilina made numerous statements throughout the proceedings indicating that she had already decided to impose the maximum allowed by the sentence agreement even before the sentencing hearing began. Thus, from the defendant's perspective the sentencing hearing was just a ritual.
"The judge herself openly lamented that she could not impose cruel and unusual punishment upon the defendant, indicated her expectation that he would be harmed in prison, without condemning it, and finally proclaimed, with apparent relish, that she was signing his 'death warrant."
They added the following.
"If resentencing is ordered, it should be with a different judge. Judge Aquilina can be reasonably be expected to have substantial difficulty in putting out of her mind previously-expressed views or findings determined to be erroneous."
Pretty much everyone except for Nassar's lawyers understand the fact that it was Nassar and his predatory actions that made him susceptible to being attacked in prison. Everyone knows that child molesters are often attacked in prison, and Nassar is one of the worst child molesters in the history of mankind.
But by all means, blame the judge, the judge who didn't even issue Nassar the sentence that he was serving while he was attacked, for the fact that he was attacked in prison.
What's even worse is the fact that Nassar's attorneys have now appealed all three of Nassar's prison sentences, so whether the issue that they claim to have with Judge Aquilina is actually an issue that they have with her or a made-up issue is also up for debate.
The third prison sentence that Nassar was issued was issued to him this past February by Judge Janice Cunningham. She sentenced him to between an additional 40 and 125 years in state prison on three more sexual assault charges following a three-day sentencing hearing in Eaton County, Michigan during which victim impact statements were delivered in court by 65 of the people who have accused Nassar of sexual assault.
The fact that Judge Aquilina, the judge who was the first to give these survivors the voice that they had long been denied, is set to remain on the Nassar case is a huge win for the survivors. Their victim impact statements were heard far and wide, and the attorneys of the man who made it his life goal to bring them pain by bringing himself pleasure cannot undo that. Judge Garcia made sure of it.