Larry Nassar listens to Chief Judge Janice Cunningham on his third day of sentencing on Feb. 5, 2018, in the Eaton County courtroom. Nassar faces three counts of criminal sexual conduct in Eaton County.
—Ex-MSU and USA Gymnastics doctor Larry Nassar has now appealed his sentence in Eaton County, according to a report from the Lansing State Journal.
Nassar has officially filed appeals in all courts in which he pleaded guilty to sexual assault or child pornography charges.
Motions filed in Ingham County
Nassar's two attorneys, Jacqueline McCann and Malaika Ramsey-Heath, have already submitted an appeal in Ingham County to have Judge Rosemarie Aquilina, who sentenced Nassar to 40 to 175 years, disqualified from Nassar's case and to seek a new sentencing.
McCann and Ramsey-Heath argued that Judge Rosemarie Aquilina was biased in Nassar's case because she publicly identified herself as an advocate for the survivors of Nassar's sexual abuse, gave "repeated indications" prior to Nassar's sentencing hearing that she had already determined to impose the maximum sentence and more.
Aquilina denied the motion to disqualify herself from Nassar's case after a hearing held last Friday.
Motion filed in Eaton County
The newest appeal was filed by Nassar's court-appointed appellate attorneys in Eaton County Circuit Court to seek a new sentencing hearing on the three sexual assault charges Nassar pleaded guilty to. They've also requested for a different judge to be assigned to him.
"Judge Cunningham having already been exposed to the improper factors can be reasonably expected to have substantial difficulty in putting these out of her mind," Nassar's attorneys wrote in the appeal filed. "Re-assignment is advisable to preserve the appearance of justice, and the reassignment would not entail waste and duplication out of proportion to any gain in preserving the appearance of fairness."
Cunningham sentenced Nassar to 40 to 125 years in prison on three counts of sexual assault charges in February. A hearing for the newest appeal filed in Eaton County is scheduled for Sept. 6, 2018.
Appeal for child pornography charges
In April, Nassar appealed the 60-year sentence he received for three child pornography charges, which is still pending.
Nassar's charges
Nassar is currently in a 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 to 60 years on child pornography charges.
More than 300 women and one male have come forward as survivors of Nassar's sexual abuse.
As of late June, Nassar also faces six additional charges of sexual assault at a Texas gymnastics training center.
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