A FORMER sports doctor who admitted molesting some of the United States’ top gymnasts for years has been sentenced to 40 to 175 years in prison by a judge who proudly told him: “I just signed your death warrant.”
The sentence capped a remarkable seven-day hearing in which scores of Larry Nassar’s victims were able to confront him face to face in a Michigan courtroom.
Judge Rosemarie Aquilina said Nassar’s “decision to assault was precise, calculated, manipulative, devious, despicable”.
When the hearing ended, the courtroom broke into applause.
Nassar, 54, pleaded guilty to assaulting seven people in the Lansing area, but the sentencing hearing has been open to anyone who said they were a victim.
The women have included Olympians Aly Raisman, Jordyn Wieber and McKayla Maroney.
The accusers, many of whom were children, said they trusted Nassar to care for them properly, were in denial about what was happening or were afraid to speak up. He sometimes used a sheet or his body to block the view of any parent in the room.
Nassar has already been sentenced to 60 years in federal prison for child pornography crimes.
He is scheduled to be sentenced next week on more assault convictions in Eaton County, Michigan.
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