Former Michigan State University gymnastics coach Kathie Klages convicted of lying to police

LANSING – A jury has found former Michigan State University gymnastics coach Kathie Klages guilty of lying to police.

After about three hours deliberating Friday, jurors convicted Klages of one felony and one misdemeanor, both counts of lying to police.

The verdict makes Klages the second former MSU employee with ties to convicted sex offender Larry Nassar to be found guilty of criminal charges.

Last year, a jury convicted former College of Osteopathic Medicine dean William Strampel of misconduct in office related to his treatment of women and of willful neglect of duty related to his failure to supervise Nassar after a 2014 sexual assault investigation.

Strampel is serving a one-year sentence in Ingham County jail, though he’s set to get out early for good behavior.

Prosecutors convinced the jury that Klages lied during a June 21, 2018 interview with Michigan Attorney General's Office special agents.

Read more about the prosecution's case: Prosecutor: Two gymnasts told the truth when it was difficult. Klages chose to lie

During that interview, Klages said she didn't remember two gymnasts telling her in 1997 that Nassar, a former MSU sports medicine doctor who abused hundreds of girls and young women under the guise of medical treatment, had sexually abused them.

Those gymnasts were 14 and 16 at the time and participating in the Spartan Youth gymnastics program, which Klages oversaw.

Larissa Boyce, who was one of those gymnasts, said Friday after the verdict that she can now put the entire situation behind her.

"I feel free, like a weight has been lifted off of me," Boyce told reporters. "I feel vindicated. I feel like, finally, enablers from MSU are being held accountable. Finally justice."

Mary Chartier, one of Klages’ attorneys, said she believes jurors “ignored” reasonable doubts about the evidence and were “blinded by hearing Larry Nassar’s name over and over again.”

Chartier and Klages' other defense attorneys argued multiple times that the case wouldn't have been charged without the connections to Nassar and MSU.

“She’s very disappointed,” Chartier said of her client. “She didn’t lie in 2018. She didn’t lie today. To be convicted of something that she absolutely did not do, she is certainly disappointed. But she is strong and she’ll get through it. People who truly know her know the truth.”

Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel said the failure wasn't on the jury's part, but on Klages' multiple years ago when she "knew of Larry Nassar’s sexual misconduct but neglected to tell investigators.”

“She could and should have acted on complaints about Larry Nassar decades ago," Nessel said in a statement. "That is a failure on multiple levels, but none is more important than her failure to protect the young women who had the courage to speak up decades ago and the hundreds who became Nassar’s victims after that.”

Klages testified Friday she didn't remember a meeting about Larry Nassar

Klages maintained Friday from the witness stand that she didn't learn about Nassar's abuse until the Indianapolis Star reported the sexual assault allegations in 2016.

She also continued to deny any memory of the 1997 conversation.

Read more from Klages' testimony and closing arguments: Kathie Klages: 'I do not' remember 1997 conversation with two gymnasts who say they reported Nassar

Boyce and the other former gymnast, who has asked to remain anonymous, both testified that Klages was dismissive of their complaints and brought other gymnasts through to dissuade them, making them feel embarrassed, humiliated and like they were doing something wrong.

"What they have is a dream (to be MSU gymnasts)," Assistant Attorney General William Rollstin said Friday. "And Kathie Klages knows it, and she uses it against them."

Klages said she first heard Boyce's claims about 20 years after the two former gymnasts say the meeting took place. She said she read a transcript of a television interview with Boyce and was shocked.

"I don’t know that the conversation occurred as (Larissa Boyce) recalls, if the conversation even did occur," Klages testified. "But I would think that I would (remember)."

Her attorneys focused on memory as an issue throughout the case, using it to attempt to discredit Boyce and the other gymnast

Larissa Boyce: The trial was difficult, but worth it

In her closing statement, Chartier pointed out several inconsistencies in statements from Boyce during police interviews, sworn testimony and other statements. She also pointed to inconsistencies in the other gymnast's statements over the years.

Read more about the defense's case: Former MSU coach Klages' attorneys question part of 2 women's memory of reporting Nassar in 1997

As she pointed each one out, she tore off a piece of colored paper with a quote or summary of a statement and stuck it to an easel as visual evidence of all the reasonable doubts jurors might have.

"All of this is reasonable doubt that their memory of events is not reliable enough for you to convict Mrs. Klages," Chartier said.

Boyce said as Klages' attorneys pointed out those inconsistencies during cross examination, it "felt like I was back in Kathie's office being berated and being called a liar."

"That was very difficult. It was not fun," Boyce said. "It was not fun to be here, but to get that guilty verdict, it was worth it."

She said she's used her story as an opportunity to try and help others.

She hopes that as Strampel, Klages and others are held accountable, it's "showing the world we have to do better."

"We need to do better. MSU has to do better," Boyce said. "There need to be policies in place that are actually followed. Sexual assault needs to be taken seriously."

MSU is paying for Klages' defense because of the university's indemnification policy. As of invoices received through December 2019, the school had paid $565,577.91 in legal fees for the case.

Klages faces up to four years in prison on the felony count and up to two years in prison on the misdemeanor count.

A sentencing hearing is scheduled for 8:30 a.m. April 15.

Chartier added Klages plans to appeal the verdict.

Contact reporter Megan Banta at (517) 377-1261 or mbanta@lsj.com. Follow her on Twitter @MeganBanta_1.