Matt Mencarini | Lansing State Journal

Nick King, Lansing State Journal

Nick King/Lansing State Journal

LANSING - Judge Rosemarie Aquilina has denied Larry Nassar's request for a new sentence on his Ingham County sexual assault convictions.

The bid began earlier this month when Nassar's court-appointed appellate attorneys filed the motion seeking a new sentence and a motion to remove Aquilina from the case, calling her biased against their client.

Aquilina refused to remove herself and the Ingham County chief judge denied an appeal of that decision filed by Nassar's attorneys. She denied the motion for a new sentencing during a motion hearing this afternoon.

Just hours before the hearing began, Nassar's attorneys asked the Court of Appeals to halt the hearing and allow them to appeal the rulings that kept Aquilina on the case. Less than 30 minutes before the hearing began. the Court of Appeals said it would not intervene.

Both Aquilina's denial of the new sentencing hearing and the chief judge's decision to keep her on the case can be appealed.

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In making her ruling on Monday, Aquilina said she didn't feel there was an error in her sentence and that Nassar got the sentence he bargained for.

Nick King, Lansing State Journal

"What he's asking for now is continued control and control over those girls," she said. "He wants to control his sentencing. ... He wants somehow to think that the legal system, after being the most notorious, worst sexual predator in the world, he wants the court to hold his hand by his prescription the whole way, right into the jail and into the prison.

"And this court will not do that. This is not Burger King. He will not have it his way."

The 55-year-old former Michigan State University and USA Gymnastics doctor is serving a 60-year federal sentence on child pornography charges.

Additionally, Aquilina sentenced Nassar in January to 40 to 175 years in prison on seven first-degree criminal sexual conduct charges. The sentence came at the end of seven days filled with victim-impact statements from 156 women and girls. It drew international attention and put Nassar, his crimes, his victims and his ties to Michigan State University and USA Gymnastics into a spotlight not seen in the 16 months prior.

Weeks later, Eaton County Circuit Court Judge Janice Cunningham sentenced Nassar to 40 to 125 years in prison on three sexual assault charges.

Nick King/Lansing State Journal

Nassar sought new sentences, which both followed the guidelines in his plea agreement, in Eaton and Ingham counties. A hearing in Eaton County is set for Sept. 6.

A federal appeals court last week denied Nassar's appeal of his federal sentence, which requires him to serve his 60-year federal sentence before serving any time on the state charges.

Nassar's attorneys had argued in their motion from earlier this month that Nassar was entitled to a new sentencing on three legal grounds. Aquilina was biased against him, which violated his due process rights, they wrote, adding that she considered impermissible factors in reaching the sentence and Nassar's state sentences should be served at the same time as his federal sentences, not after.

Aquilina clarified her sentence on Monday, deferring to the federal judge on whether the state sentences had to be served after the federal sentence, a clarification that didn't impact any of the sentences.

Lindsey Lemke, one of the victims who spoke during Nassar's Ingham County sentencing, attended Monday's hearing and said it's "ridiculous" and unfair to Nassar's victims that he's seeking a new sentence.

"We put our entire lives out there, our personal lives, things that we should have never ever had to say out loud," she said after the hearing. "He still, I think, is taking advantage of that for himself."

Lemke added that she expected Aquilina to deny the motion.

The Michigan Attorney General's Office, which prosecuted Nassar, defended Aquilina's conduct during and after the sentencing and argued that she didn't consider impermissible factors in reaching her sentence.

"Nassar does not have the right to a sentencing hearing that is devoid of emotion or condemnation," Chief Deputy Attorney General Laura Moody said during the hearing. "Apparently what Nassar expected was a bland and tepid sentencing. Again, too bad.

"What he got was something very different: A sentencing hearing filled with outrage at his behavior."

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