Nassar-related case dismissed against ex-university chief
DETROIT (AP) — A judge dismissed criminal charges Wednesday against former Michigan State University President Lou Anna Simon arising from the Larry Nassar sexual assault scandal.
Simon was ordered to trial last year on charges that she lied to police about her knowledge of a sexual misconduct complaint against Nassar, who was a campus doctor and now is serving decades in prison.
But Eaton County Judge John Maurer dismissed the case. The Michigan attorney general’s office, which prosecuted Simon, had no immediate comment.
The charges against Simon centered on a 2018 interview with investigators who wanted to know what officials at the East Lansing university knew about complaints about Nassar years earlier.
Authorities said Simon knew in 2014 that Nassar had been accused of molesting a patient at a campus clinic, and that she knew of the nature of the complaint.
But Simon insisted that she knew only that a complaint had been filed against a sports doctor.
“The prosecution did not provide evidence sufficient to give a reasonable person probable cause to believe that Dr. Simon knew during her 2018 interview that her purported knowledge in 2014 of Dr. Nassar’s name and the ‘nature’ and ‘substance’ of the complaint against him” were relevant to the 2018 investigation, the judge said.
Simon resigned as Michigan State president in January 2018, hours after Nassar was sentenced to prison following days of wrenching testimony from his victims.
Hundreds of women and girls, mostly gymnasts, said he molested them with his hands during visits for hip, back and leg injuries. Besides working at Michigan State, Nassar was team doctor at USA Gymnastics, based in Indianapolis, which trains Olympians. Those elite athletes, too, said they were victims.
The scandal was a disaster for Michigan State. It agreed to pay $500 million to victims. Separately, the U.S. Education Department ordered the school to make sweeping changes and pay a $4.5 million penalty.
Butzel Long donates $5,000 to Gleaners
Butzel Long is responding to meet the needs of the community during the COVID-19 pandemic by donating $5,000 to Gleaners. The donation through the Butzel Long Charitable Trust, will provide 15,000 meals to neighbors in need.
Butzel Long has been a longtime supporter of Gleaners. Over the years, the firm hosted a PB & J fundraiser for Gleaners and collected boxes of cereal during a food drive for kids, to name a few.
Throughout the year, Butzel Long supports many local organizations, charities, and community activities in an effort to give back to the City that it has been located in for more than 160 years.
“The current health and economic crisis has been devastating to our community,” said Paul M. Mersino, attorney and shareholder at Butzel Long and Trustee of its Charitable Trust. “A growing number of families are looking to Gleaners to secure nourishing food that they may not otherwise be able to obtain elsewhere right now. Gleaners is a vital link in our community especially during these unprecedented times.
Butzel Long is proud to be able to assist Gleaners and those in need.”
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