LANSING, Mich. — The former sports doctor who admitted molesting some of the nation’s top gymnasts for years under the guise of medical treatment was sentenced Wednesday to 40 to 175 years in prison by a judge who proudly told him, “I just signed your death warrant.”

The sentence capped a remarkable seven-day hearing in which more than 150 of Larry Nassar’s victims offered statements about the physician who was renowned for treating athletes at the sport’s highest levels. Nassar, who has admitted to molesting multiple girls and women who were under his care, had already been sentenced to 60 years in prison on separate federal child pornography charges. He also has pleaded guilty to three charges of criminal sexual conduct in Eaton County in Michigan and is due to be sentenced on those charges on January 31. However, he stated that “Larry’s soul is broken,” and then Nassar gave a short statement to his victims:

“Your words these past several days have had a significant emotional effect on myself and has shaken me to my core. I will carry your words with me for the rest of my days.”

But before delivering her sentence, Aquilina read aloud a letter Nassar wrote to the court recently in which he defended his medical care, said he was “manipulated” into pleading guilty, and accused the women of lying. During the proceedings, Aquilina read portions of a letter that Nassar had given her a couple of months after entering his plea, but she refused to read it in its entirety. The victims who packed the courtroom gasped as they heard passages that included “Hell hath no fury than a woman scorned” and another statement in which Nassar said the “stories” about him were fabricated. The newspaper’s 2016 investigation of how the sport’s governing body handled sexual abuse allegations against coaches prompted a former gymnast to alert the paper to Nassar. Nassar had complained that he didn’t have the mental ability to withstand these statements, which were relatively few, considering that he pleaded guilty to molesting over 150 women and girls during his time with USA Gymnastics and Michigan State University. LANSING, MI - JANUARY 17: Larry Nassar listens to victim impact statements during his sentencing hearing after being accused of molesting more than 100 girls while he was a physician for USA Gymnastics and Michigan State University where he had his sports-medicine practice on January 17, 2018 in Lansing, Michigan.
Larry Nassar is sentenced to 40 to 175 years in prison for molesting Olympic gymnasts and other women. Many of the accusers were children, who were told to not question authority.