LANSING - Larry Nassar wants to be resentenced on his Ingham County sexual assault charges and wants the judge who said she signed his "death warrant" to be disqualified from the case.
Nassar, who is serving a 60-year federal prison sentence on three child pornography charges and was sentenced to decades more in state prison on 10 sexual assault charges, filed two motions Tuesday in Ingham County Circuit Court.
One seeks a resentencing to correct what Nassar argues is an invalid sentence. The other seeks Judge Rosemarie Aquilina's disqualification and the assignment of a new judge to sentence him. His court-appointed appellate attorneys argued that Aquilina was "admittedly not an unbiased and impartial judge."
Nassar told his attorneys that he was attacked in federal prison within a few hours of being placed in the general population, according to the motion. His attorneys attributed that attack, and the attempted attack on Nassar by the father of three of his victims during his Eaton County sentencing, to "Judge Aquilina's efforts to demonize Dr. Nassar in front of the entire world."
Aquilina decline to comment. Andrea Bitely, a spokeswoman for the Attorney General's Office, declined to comment as her office is still reviewing the motions.
"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 attorneys wrote. "Thus, from the defendant's perspective the sentencing hearing was just a ritual.
"The judge herself openly lamented that she could not impose cruel and unusual punishment upon the defendant, indicated her expectation that he would be harmed in prison, without condemning it, and finally proclaimed, with apparent relish, that she was signing his 'death warrant.'"
In April, Nassar appealed his 60-year federal sentence, the total of three 20-year sentences he was ordered to serve consecutively.
His attorney argued that the federal judge erred when she used his 10 sexual assault convictions in state court, for which he had not been sentenced a the time, in calculating the sentence guideline range. Nassar's federal court-appointed appellate attorney also argued that it was "procedurally unreasonable" for the federal judge to order Nassar's state sentences to be served after the federal sentence.
The U.S. Attorney's Office, in their response, argued that judge acted within her discretion in both calculating his guidelines and ordering the sentence to be served consecutive to the state sentences.
A ruling on Nassar's federal appeal has not been issued.
Nassar wants return to Ingham County
Nassar's Ingham County sentencing hearing lasted seven days and made international headlines. In all, 156 women and girls gave victim-impact statements. Many of them thanked Aquilina for giving them the chance to speak and helping them heal from the sexual abuse.
Nassar's state appellate attorneys argued in their motions this week that Aquilina violated numerous judicial guidelines in the way she handled the sentencing. She was aware of the public attention on the case, was swayed by the public clamor and public interests and "used the bench as a stage from which to push her own agenda for particular legislation."
Instead of remaining impartial and unbiased, which was her role, Aquilina became an advocate, the attorneys argued. She told victims who spoke that the world and legislators were listening to their voices and that they might change laws.
Aquilina later testified to a state House of Representatives committee that was considering a package of bills inspired by Nassar's crimes.
Nassar's attorneys argued that Aquilina made numerous comments during the seven-day hearing "indicating her personal disdain" for Nassar and her desire to punish him outside the limits of the criminal justice system. They added that she's give numerous media interviews, spoken publicly about the case and traveled to the 2018 ESPN ESPYS Awards to be in attendance as 141 of Nassar's victims were present to received the Arthur Ashe Courage Award.
Nassar's Ingham County sentencing pushed him, his crimes and his connections to Michigan State and USA Gymnastics into a spotlight not seen in the 16 months prior, after an Indianapolis Star article made sexual assault allegations against Nassar public for the first time.
More than 300 women and one man have come forward to say they were sexually assaulted by the former doctor.
The motions were filed in Aquilina's court, and hearings will be held on the matters in her courtroom at a later date.
"If resentencing is ordered, it should be with a different judge," they argued. "Judge Aquilina can be reasonably be expected to have substantial difficulty in putting out of her mind previously-expressed views or findings determined to be erroneous."
Nassar pleaded guilty in late 2017 to 10 sexual assault charges split between Ingham and Eaton counties. The plea agreements set the low end of Nassar's sentences between 25 and 40 years in prison.
Aquilina sentenced Nassar to 40 to 175 years in prison, a sentence he will only serve if he survives the 60-year federal sentence. The following week, Nassar's three-day sentencing hearing in Eaton County began, and Judge Janice Cunningham sentenced Nassar to 40 to 125 years in prison, the sentence the Attorney General's Office had requested from both judges.
Contact Matt Mencarini at (517) 267-1347 or mmencarini@lsj.com. Follow him on Twitter @MattMencarini.