NEWS

Judge orders courtroom closed during testimony in Nassar case

Matt Mencarini
Lansing State Journal
An Eaton County courtroom will be closed to the public in June when two women and a teenage girl are expected to testify that Larry Nassar sexually assaulted them during medical appointments, a judge ruled Friday, April 14, 2017.

CHARLOTTE - An Eaton County courtroom will be closed to the public in June when two women and a teenage girl are expected to testify that Larry Nassar sexually assaulted them during medical appointments, a judge ruled today.

Eaton County District Court Judge Julie Reincke said she will allow one support person for each of the witnesses to be present in the courtroom. She added that one print media reporter will be allowed in the courtroom for the testimony, but will be barred from reporting the alleged victims' names or other identifying information.

Reincke's order bars civil attorneys who are suing Nassar and Michigan State University from being in the courtroom during testimony from the three accusers. Nassar worked at MSU for nearly two decades as a doctor before he was fired in September.

Reincke's courtroom will be open to the public and other media for the rest of the June 30 preliminary hearing, which will determine if there's enough evidence for Nassar, 53, of Holt, to stand trial on several first-degree criminal sexual conduct charges. He faces up to life in prison if convicted.

Nassar also faces sexual assault charges in 55th District Court in Ingham County, and the Michigan Attorney General's Office has filed a motion seeking to close that courtroom for the alleged victims' testimony as well. A hearing on that motion has been set for May in District Court Judge Donald Allen Jr. 's courtroom.

Allen presided over Nassar's first preliminary hearing on sexual assault charges in February and ruled that the courtroom remain open during the testimony of a woman in her 20s who said Nassar sexually abused her when she was a young girl.

The case in Reincke's Eaton County courtroom involves two women in their 20s who say Nassar abused them when they were teenage girls, and a teenage girl who says Nassar abused her when she was 10 years old.

Three of the seven alleged victims in the case currently in Allen's courtroom are teenage girls, the others are adults who told police Nassar abused them when they were teenage girls.

Also today, Reincke granted a motion from Nassar's attorneys requesting a copy of the video from the teenage girl's interview with police. Allen denied a similar motion on Monday in the case in his court, but said Nassar and his attorneys could view the video at the courthouse.

ContactMatt Mencarini at (517) 267-1347 or mmencarini@lsj.com. Follow him on Twitter@MattMencarini.