Reuters
Convicted serial child molester Larry Nassar is seeking a new prison sentence after claiming a Michigan judge was biased against him when he was given a de facto life term. Nassar, who pleaded guilty to seven counts of sexual assault of minors, claims Ingham County Judge Rosemarie Aquilina was not impartial when she gave him a 40- to 175-year sentence. The motion seeks a new sentence that runs alongside the 60-year federal sentence that the former USA Gymnastics team doctor is serving for possessing child pornography. “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.” Aquilina declined to comment, but one of Nassar’s victims, Jessica Smith, criticized her abuser. “The further we get in the legal process of sentencing Nassar, the more apparent it is on how manipulative he will try to be—even from prison,” said Smith, founder of #MeTooMSU.