Rachael Denhollander addresses the court during her victim impact statement on the second day of sentencing for Larry Nassar on Feb. 2, 2018, in the Eaton County courtroom. Nassar faces three counts of criminal sexual conduct in Eaton. Denhollander was the first women to publicly accuse Nassar of abuse.
—The Michigan Supreme Court denied an appeal from ex-MSU doctor Larry Nassar.
This order comes almost six years after survivor Rachael Denhollander filed her original police report, beginning prosecution for what turned out to be Nassar's decades of sexual abuse of many women.
The court denied the appeal for three reasons. First, Nassar's claims suffer from "preservation problems," meaning if he were to prove his appeal was necessary, he would "shoulder a heavy burden."
Second, the significance of the court's ruling is limited, as “the question of this judge’s impartiality or bias arises in markedly fact-specific circumstances, involving an unusually high-profile and highly scrutinized case, and a unique sentencing procedure,” the order said.
Third, the court stated that the outcome of this appeal would not change Nassar's original 40 to 75-year sentencing.
"For these reasons, we decline to expend additional judicial resources and further subject the victims in this case to additional trauma where the questions at hand present nothing more than an academic exercise," the order said.
Denhollander said on Twitter that she's grateful to Dt. Andrea Munford and Assistant Attorney General Angie Povilaitis especially, as their work is the reason survivors were able to get the closure Denhollander believes they deserve.
“Living the last four years since the sentencing knowing I could have to go back to court was deeply unsettling but ... I never had to be afraid he'd get out, once he lost the appeals for his other two sentences,” Denhollander said via Twitter. “But most survivors don't have that security.”
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