Thursday, March 28, 2024

Charges dismissed against ex-MSU President Lou Anna K. Simon

May 13, 2020
Defense attorney Terry Dillon (center) objects to a line of questioning during the seventh day of former MSU President Lou Anna K. Simon's (right) preliminary examination at the Eaton County Courthouse on July 23, 2019.
Defense attorney Terry Dillon (center) objects to a line of questioning during the seventh day of former MSU President Lou Anna K. Simon's (right) preliminary examination at the Eaton County Courthouse on July 23, 2019. —
Photo by Matt Zubik | The State News

An Eaton County judge dismissed charges against ex-Michigan State University President Lou Anna K. Simon for alleged knowledge of Larry Nassar's decades of sexual abuse, according to court records.

Judge John Maurer dismissed the case because he said there wasn't sufficient evidence "to give a reasonable person probable cause to believe that Dr. Simon knew during her 2018 interview that her purported knowledge in 2014 of Dr. Nassar's name and the ‘nature’ and ‘substance’ of the complaint against him."

After a lengthy preliminary examination, Simon was ordered to trial last October.

She was charged with two misdemeanors and two felonies, accused of lying to Michigan State Police during a 2018 investigation about her knowledge of a 2014 Title IX complaint concerning Nassar's abuse.

The charges included two counts of lying to a peace officer in a violent crime investigation — a four year felony — and two counts of lying to a peace officer in a four year or more crime investigation, which is a high-court misdemeanor with a maximum of two years. Each of the four charge carries a potential $5,000 fine.

Editor's Note: This article was updated at 4:45 p.m.

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