NEW YORK (WOOD) — Ingham County Judge Rosemarie Aquilina appeared on NBC’s “TODAY” show Monday morning, where she talked about the Larry Nassar case and the sexual assault epidemic.
Aquilina presided over Nassar’s seven-day hearing in January. More than 150 victims of the disgraced sports doctor spoke before Aquilina sentenced the former Michigan State University sports doctor.
“As they spoke, I literally watched them grow to 10 feet. They got their power back,” she said Monday on the “TODAY” show, which was her first interview since Nassar's sentencing.
Aquilina sentenced Nassar to 40 years to 175 years in prison, which runs consecutively with his 60-year sentence for child pornography.
Nassar tried to appeal to remove Aquilina from his case and be resentenced by a different judge, accusing her of bias and using the proceedings to “advance her own agenda” and as “group therapy for victims.” But Ingham County Circuit Court Chief Judge Richard Garcia ruled Aquilina “is the only one who should properly render any re-sentence.”
“I am fair and impartial at sentencing. The fact that I kept listening is just justice,” she said on “TODAY.”