Larry Nassar assaulted in prison, new court filings say

Former USA Gymnastics doctor Larry Nassar was reportedly assaulted inside a federal prison in Arizona, where he is serving a 60-year sentence after pleading guilty to sexual assault and child pornography charges.

The Detroit News was first to report on Wednesday that Nassar was “physically attacked” by his fellow inmates just hours after he was released into the general population in late May at the United States Penitentiary in Tucson, Ariz., according to court filings obtained.

{mosads}The claim from Nassar’s attorneys was included in court filings on Tuesday in Ingham County Circuit Court in Michigan, where the former doctor is reportedly seeking to appeal his sentence.

His attorneys blamed the alleged assault on Ingham County Judge Rosemarie Aquilina, who allowed more than 150 women to provide the court with victim impact statements in her courtroom in late January. 

“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,” Nassar’s attorney, Jacqueline McCann, wrote in the filing. “Thus, from the defendant’s perspective the sentencing hearing was just a ritual.

“Instead of a proceeding to assist the judge in reaching a fair and just sentencing decision,” the attorney continued, “the judge used the nationally-televised proceeding as an opportunity to advance her own agenda, including to advocate for policy initiatives within the state as well as the federal legislatures, to push for broader cultural change regarding gender equity and sexual discrimination issues and seemingly as a type of group therapy for victims.”

In response to the filings, Walt Shannon, the president of the American Federation of Government Employees, Local 3955, told the publication that fights can occur in prison.

“The inmates watch our staffing level,” Shannon told the local paper. “If they’re going to do something … it is going to happen when staffing is low.”

Nassar, who also worked at Michigan State University, has been accused of sexually abusing hundreds of victims under his care for decades while claiming to treat them for sports injuries.