Judge: Justice who presided over Nassar trial to remain

LANSING, Mich. – A Michigan chief judge says a colleague who sentenced former sports doctor Larry Nassar to prison for molesting women and girls will remain on the case.

Ingham County Circuit Judge Richard Garcia ruled Tuesday in defence of Judge Rosemarie Aquilina’s status on Nassar’s case. Nassar’s appellate lawyers, accuse her of bias during a seven-day hearing in January when roughly 150 victims spoke and say he deserves another hearing.

At sentencing , Aquilina said Nassar deserved cruel punishment if the Constitution would allow it .

Garcia says Aquilina’s statements “do not constitute impermissible bias.” He added that Nassar apparently wants to be resentenced by a judge “who is ambivalent about the suffering of his victims,” and that “standard would disqualify any judge with a pulse.”

This month, Aquilina said she wouldn’t disqualify herself.