ShootSpeeders
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- May 13, 2012
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Was Nassar even guilty.? Looks like he was beaten down and forced to plead guilty. The state was clearly out to get him. The media also.
The moment the judge in the Larry Nassar case crossed a line
jan 25 2o18 Many of us have watched in horror as victim after victim testified at the sentencing hearing for Larry Nassar, the doctor who pleaded guilty to molesting US gymnasts under his care. Though Nassar had admitted to molesting seven victims, Judge Rosemarie Aquilina opened the courtroom in this phase to anyone wishing to speak, including victims of Nassar who were not part of the official case.
Ultimately, there were more than 160 witnesses, including numerous Olympic athletes, who gave gut-wrenching testimony about his effect on their lives.
On Wednesday, Judge Aquilina sentenced Nassar to 40 to 175 years in prison — a sentence she assured him means he will die in prison, since it will be served subsequent to a 60-year sentence in another case for possession of child pornography. “I have signed your death warrant,” she announced.
Throughout the sentencing hearing, Aquilina was praised for her compassion towards victims, and her comments Wednesday drew further exultant commentary. But her words to Nassar should make us uncomfortable. That’s because, perhaps without realizing it, Aquilina overstepped her bounds as a judge and adopted the role of victim advocate.
She told Nassar, “It is my honor and privilege to sentence you,” and observed, at one point: “Our Constitution does not allow for cruel and unusual punishment. If it did … I would allow some or many people to do to him what he did to others.”
That is a human reaction, but it is one you’d expect to be expressed by a victim rather than a judge. (Many observers, including me, heard the “do to him what he did to others” line as a not-so-coded expression of a hope that Nassar would be raped in prison.)
Throughout the proceedings, which were televised, Aquilina essentially transformed herself into a champion for a movement. It is understandable to feel empathy for previously voiceless victims, especially ones whose testimony took such bravery. But there are crucial distinctions between judge and advocate, and she traversed those lines repeatedly.
She talked to victims as though she were their confidante, telling one, “The monster who took advantage of you is going to wither, much like the scene in The Wizard of Oz where the water gets poured on the witch and the witch withers away.”
She passionately thanked victims and called them “superheroes.”