Larry Nassar and his attorneys seeking new sentencing is a disgraceful ploy
Larry Nassar was released to the general population of United States Penitentiary, Tucson in Tucson, Arizona for the first time in May while serving the 60-year federal prison sentence that he was issued this past December on three child pornography charges.
It was recently revealed that just hours after his release into the general population of the prison, the 54-year-old disgraced former USA Gymnastics and Michigan State University physician, who has been accused of sexually assaulting more than 300 people, many of whom female gymnasts, under the guise of medical treatment for over two decades, was reportedly physically assaulted.
This has caused Nassar and his attorneys to call for him to get a new judge and a new sentencing hearing in Ingham County, Michigan.
In January, Nassar was issued a state prison sentence in Ingham County by Judge Rosemarie Aquilina for between 40 and 175 years. He was issued this sentence on seven sexual assault charges upon the conclusion of a seven-day sentencing hearing during which 169 victim impact statements were read in front of him.
According to the Lansing State Journal, Nassar's new attorneys, Jacqueline McCann and Malaika Ramsey-Heath say that he was attacked in prison because of Judge Aquilina's "efforts to demonize Dr. Nassar in front of the entire world."
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."
At this point, it would seem as though Nassar and his attorneys are grasping at straws that don't exist. It's not like he is going to get out of prison. So why are they doing this?
The only thing that giving Nassar a resentencing in Ingham County would accomplish is "re-victimizing" those who have accused him of sexual assault. He isn't even serving the state prison sentence that he was issued by Judge Aquilina, and he very well may not get to do so.
He is currently serving the 60-year federal prison sentence that he was issued on month earlier. Judge Aquilina is not even responsible for giving him this sentence, much less for the attacks that he endured upon his release to the general population of the prison. It is a well-known fact that child molesters get attacked in prison.
However, if Nassar does end up being granted a resentencing, the many people who issued victim impact statements in front of him may very well be called upon to do so again, which would essentially "re-victimize" them.
Here is what attorney Mick Grewal, who represents 111 of the people who claim Nassar sexually assaulted them, had to say about the matter, according to ESPN.
"For a narcissistic, convicted pedophile to put these women through this again is horrible...They will come and they will fight. They are the voices of change."
With Nassar's attorneys also planning to file pleadings in Eaton County, Michigan, where Nassar was sentenced to between an additional 40 and 125 years in state prison in February by Judge Janice Cunningham on three more sexual assault charges, in the near future, even more people may be called upon to, once again, deliver their victim impact statements.
A total of 65 victim impact statements were delivered in front of Nassar during this three-day sentencing hearing.
Meanwhile, Nassar is set to spend the rest of his life in prison anyway, and justifiably so. After all, it was he, no one else, who ruined his life and his future by sexually assaulting so many people. The blame lies solely with him, not with Judge Aquilina or any of the people he sexually assaulted.
This whole new situation involving Nassar and his attorneys that suggests otherwise is a disgraceful ploy.