LANSING, Mich. — Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel filed on Tuesday a brief opposing Larry Nassar’s latest effort to seek resentencing by filing an application for leave to appeal in the Michigan Supreme Court.
Nassar argues that Ingham County 30th Circuit Court Judge Rosemarie Aquilina was biased against him during his sentencing hearing and post-sentencing, according to a news release Wednesday.
But Nessel says Nassar’s claims are not only baseless, but directed to the wrong forum because any sentencing relief at the state level would not begin until the completion of his 60-year federal sentence.
In addition, the sentence Nassar challenges would be concurrent to a final sentence for other sexual assaults he committed in neighboring Eaton County.
“With Nassar’s express agreement, Judge Aquilina listened to more than 150 survivors describe their sexual abuse by him,” Nessel said. “While Judge Aquilina may have responded at times to the emotional victim impact statements with inappropriate language, she ultimately sentenced Nassar within the range to which he had previously agreed. The last thing the victims should have to endure is prolonging the closure they so desperately need.”
Both the chief judge of Ingham County Circuit Court and the Michigan Court of Appeals have ruled that Nassar is not entitled to relief.
Read Nessel’s brief here.
