After a seven-day hearing, former USA gymnastics doctor Larry Nassar was sentenced to 40 to 175 years in prison for sexually abusing more than 150 young women and girls over a period of two decades.
The hearing, which drew powerful statements from 156 survivors who said Nassar sexually assaulted them, ended Wednesday when Judge Rosemarie Aquilina announced his sentencing.
"It is my honour and privilege to sentence you," Judge Aquilina said, according to The New York Times. "I just signed your death warrant."
Last month, Nassar was sentenced to 60 years in prison over child pornography charges, but today's sentencing convicted him for criminal sexual conduct. In November, he also pleaded guilty to multiple sexual assault charges.
AdvertisementADVERTISEMENT
Nassar was accused of molesting young women for years, under the pretence of giving them medical treatments. Many of the survivors were Olympic gymnasts, including Aly Raisman, McKayla Maroney, and Simone Biles.
"Dr. Nassar was not a doctor," Maroney wrote in a statement read by a prosecutor at the hearing. "He in fact is, was, and forever shall be, a child molester, and a monster of a human being. End of story."
When the sentence was read, according to The New York Times, Nassar apologised and addressed his accusers: "Your words these past several days have had a significant effect on myself and have shaken me to my core. I will carry your words with me for the rest of my days."
Before delivering the sentence, however, Judge Aquilina read a letter from Nassar to the court, in which he complained that the media had distorted his patients' view of him.
"I was a good doctor because my treatments worked, and those patients that are now speaking out are the same ones that praised and came back over and over," the letter read, according to CNN. "The media convinced them that everything I did was wrong and bad. They feel I broke their trust. Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned."
The letter "tells me you still don't get it," Judge Aquilina said to him.
Earlier this week, three USA Gymnastics executives resigned from their positions, after several survivors accused the organisation of turning a blind eye to Nassar's abuse.
Nassar is also set to be sentenced next week on more assault convictions in Eaton County, Michigan, where he previously worked.
If you have experienced sexual violence of any kind, please visit Rape Crisis or call 0808 802 9999.