‘The story is not about me’: Michigan judge provides support to Nassar victims

Larry Nassar stands with his legal team during his sentencing hearing in Lansing, Michigan on Jan. 24, 2018. Brendan McDermid / Reuters

“My dream is that one day everyone will know what the words ‘Me, Too’ signify,” Olympic gold medalist Aly Raisman said. “But they will be educated and able to protect themselves from predators like Larry, so that they will never ever, ever have to say the words, ‘me, too.'”

“Thank you,” Aquilina told Raisman, as the room broke into applause.

“That was well deserved,” the judge said of the crowd’s cheers.

On the other hand, she has not offered sympathetic comments to Nassar, who complained in a letter that the judge had turned the proceedings into a “media circus” for her own gain.

Aquilina called the claim “entertaining” in court last Thursday, while she read Nassar’s letter aloud.

She read portions of the letter again during sentencing on Wednesday — which earned audible gasps from the courtroom crowd when she a read a section that said, “Hell hath no fury like a woman scorn. She then looked Nassar in the eye and tossed the letter aside.

Aquilina’s words and actions have earned her praise on social media from victim Lindsey Lemke and those who have paid attention to the case. To many, she has become a new and important figure of the #MeToo movement.