Disgraced doctor Larry Nassar attacked in Tucson prison, lawyers say
Jul 25, 2018, 5:11 PM | Updated: 8:49 pm
FILE - In this Nov. 22, 2017, file photo, Dr. Larry Nassar appears in court for a plea hearing in Lansing, Mich. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya, File)
(AP Photo/Paul Sancya, File)
PHOENIX — Disgraced former sports doctor Larry Nassar was allegedly assaulted in a federal prison in Tucson in May, his attorneys claimed.
Details of the attack were not made public.
His lawyers, Jacqueline McCann and Malaika Ramsey-Heath, said it occurred hours after Nassar was placed in the general population for serving a 60-year sentence for child pornography possession.
The attack was uncovered on Tuesday, when McCann and Ramsey-Heath filed motions in an effort to have the former Michigan State University and USA Gymnastics doctor resentenced in the first of two cases in which he pleaded guilty to molesting women and girls who sought treatment.
McCann and Ramsey-Heath partly blamed the May prison attack on the rhetoric of the judge during that sentencing hearing.
During the seven-day sentencing in January at which at least 169 women and girls provided statements, Ingham County Circuit Judge Rosemarie Aquilina described Nassar as a “monster” who is “going to wither” like the wicked witch in “The Wizard of Oz.”
She said she would allow someone “to do to him what he did to others” if the Constitution allowed, and she told Nassar she was signing his “death warrant” with the sentence she was giving him.
Nassar has been accused of molesting at least 265 patients, mostly girls and women, over decades under the guise of medical treatment.
Nassar’s court-appointed public appellate defenders accused Aquilina of using the nationally televised proceedings to “advance her own agenda” — advocating for policy initiatives and broader cultural change — and improperly agreeing to media interviews during the appeal period.
They also accused her of not stopping victims from denigrating Nassar’s defense lawyers and allowing the proceedings to devolve into a “free-for-all” in which victims wished physical harm upon Nassar and accused other uncharged individuals with wrongdoing and crimes, as others in the courtroom called out in support.
The lawyers said Nassar should be resentenced because Aquilina was neither unbiased nor impartial, arguing that while his plea deal called for a minimum of between 25 and 40 years, she clearly only considered a 40-year minimum.
Aquilina declined to comment on the motions, which she is expected to consider at hearings in August.
Nassar, 54, will likely never get out of prison. Once his 60-year federal term for child porn possession ends, he would begin serving the 40- to 175-year sentence in state prison that Aquilina gave him for the sexual assaults.
Aquilina was widely praised for her treatment of the “sister survivors” and their parents at the sentencing proceeding, but some legal observers said at the time that her pointed comments could be grounds for an appeal.
After learning Wednesday of Nassar’s request for re-sentencing, gymnast Kaylee Lorincz tweeted: “Hasn’t Larry put us through enough? This is his way to try to be able to control and manipulate us all again. Good luck with that.”
The United States Penitentiary in Tucson is the nation’s only federal facility that is classified as high security and also has a sex offender management program, according to The Detroit News.
The prison population is about 1,500 and about 80 percent of those inmates are convicted sex offenders.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
