If you followed the trial of Larry Nassar, the sports physician to the United States’ female Olympians who was convicted of molesting over a hundred women in his care, there were a lot of shocking things that went on. Nassar abused young female atheletes right in front of their parents, who couldn’t see what he was doing and assume it was, you know, medical. 156 women spoke against him at his sentencing. The US Olympics Committee and other organizations ignored complaints about Nassar for years. And Judge Rosemarie Aquilina gave Nassar a crowd-pleasing dressing down in open court that a huge number of lawyers felt bordered on judicial misconduct, though you can hardly blame her for being angry.
So what happened to Nassar today was less shocking. In the court of Judge Janice Cunningham, a father who had just listened to his three daughters’ accounts of being abused by Nassar, did what you might expect and lunged at Nassar after the judge denied his request for five minutes alone with him in a locked room.
I don’t think there was anyone who didn’t see that coming. I’m honestly surprised it took so long.
Here’s the really interesting part, though: according to CNN the court released the man, Randall Margraves, with no charges or even a fine. The judge told him that she “cannot tolerate or condone vigilantism,” and he apologized to the court, saying he lost his cool because didn’t know what his daughters were going to say until they said it. I can’t blame the guy, can you?