Judge Rosemarie Aquilina talks to Emma Ann Miller, 15, on the fifth day of Ex-MSU and USA Gymnastics Dr. Larry Nassar's sentencing on Jan. 22, 2018 at the Ingham County Circuit Court in Lansing.
Chief Judge Richard Garcia of Ingham County Circuit Court denied the appeal filed by ex-MSU and USA Gymnastics doctor Larry Nassar's attorneys to remove Judge Rosemarie Aquilina from Nassar's case.
Aquilina, who sentenced Nassar to 40 to 175 years in prison in Ingham County, will stay on Nassar's case after two of Nassar's attorneys, Jacqueline McCann and Malaika Ramsey-Heath, wrote an appeal to have Aquilina removed.
In the two motions filed in Ingham County, McCann and Ramsey-Heath claimed Aquilina was biased in Nassar's sentencing.
The matter was sent to Garcia after Aquilina denied the motion to have herself removed from Nassar's case at a hearing on Aug. 3 and after Nassar's attorneys appealed to Garcia.
According to a report done by the Lansing State Journal, Nassar's attorneys can either appeal Garcia's ruling or move to a hearing before Aquilina to rule whether or not Nassar can be resentenced in Ingham County.
Nassar's attorneys also filed an appeal in Eaton County on Aug. 8 to seek a new sentencing hearing on the three sexual assault charges Nassar pleaded guilty to and to request a different judge to be assigned to him. Judge Janice Cunningham sentenced Nassar to 40 to 125 years in prison on three counts of sexual assault charges in Eaton County.
A hearing for the newest appeal filed in Eaton County is scheduled for Sept. 6, 2018.
Currently, Nassar is in federal prison in Tuscon, Arizona.
He pleaded guilty to seven counts of criminal sexual conduct and was sentenced to 40 to 175 years in Ingham County, pleaded guilty to three counts of first-degree criminal sexual conduct and was sentenced to 40 to 125 years in Eaton County and was sentenced at the federal level to 60 years on child pornography charges.
As of late June, Nassar also faces six additional charges of sexual assault at a Texas gymnastics training center.
More than 300 people have come forward as survivors of Nassar's sexual abuse.
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