DETROIT – Imprisoned sports physician Larry Nassar's request that a judge who sentenced him for sexually assaulting women and girls who sought treatment for injuries has been denied by a higher court judge.
Judge Richard J. Garcia, of the Ingham County Circuit Court, issued an order Tuesday to deny Nassar's request for Judge Rosemarie Aquilina to be disqualified from being involved in the case in the future. Nassar and his attorney's had asked for the disqualification and for a new sentencing hearing due to the judge's alleged bias.
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Dozens of Nassar's accusers spoke during a televised sentencings earlier this year of the harm he caused them. The judges in both cases sentenced Nassar to a minimum of 40 years behind bars.
Garcia wrote the following in his order:
"The die was cast in the courtroom and (Nassar's) sentence was forged by his own words and deeds. Consideration of whether he should be resentenced can be fairly reviewed by the judge uniquely situated to provide justice in this case. The judge who heard these survivors is the only one who should properly render any resentence."
Read Garcia's full order here:
When the motion to disqualify the judge was filed, Nassar's team also said he had been attacked in federal prison, an attack they claimed was encouraged by Aquilina's comments in court.
RELATED: Larry Nassar files appeal for re-sentencing in Ingham County; says he was attacked in prison
The state attorney general's office strongly pushed back, saying the comments were after Nassar pleaded pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting young athletes, including some girls under the age of 13.
Another argument from Nassar and his attorney's was the judge has talked to the media. Local 4 has attempted to reach out to Aquilina and she would not talk about the case.
Aquilina refused to recuse herself and said bias was not a factor.
"He has buyer's remorse. He's really seeking a reduction of time," Aquilina said. "He's really seeking a second chance."
Nassar, who worked for Michigan State University and USA Gymnastics, also has a pending appeal of his 60-year federal prison sentence for possessing child pornography.