Former MSU and USA Olympic doctor Larry Nassar was sentenced to 40 to 175 years Wednesday in Ingham County, but victims are still asking for accountability and change. WKAR’s Katie Cook has more.
Judge Rosemarie Aquilina’s courtroom was a flurry of emotions and activity after Nassar’s sentence was passed Wednesday. Victims and their families cried and embraced, while journalists filled the room to speak with them.
Many of Nassar’s victims expressed relief that these seven long days are over, and that their abuser will be behind bars for the rest of his life.
But they’re also saying they can’t move forward until they get answers from the people and institutions who let them down… until they can ensure that things will be different in the future.
Kyle Stephens was the first woman to give a statement in court when hearings began last week. Nassar sexually abused her from the time she was 6 until she was 12, and she reported it several times.
“You heard everything that all the women have said about who they reported to, I reported it to a doctor who was also a professor at the school and he didn’t report it, and he’s a mandatory reporter. Michigan State keeps saying that ‘we didn’t know.’ Who didn’t know? Who should I have told? Tell me who I should have told, so I know what I should have done.”
The NCAA has opened an investigation into how Michigan State University handled the Nassar case. This comes after Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette announced he would order a full review of MSU’s role in the scandal.