“What if this happened to you guys?” he implored of the court officers as they pulled him out the room.
Looking distressed, the lead prosecutor, Angela Povilaitis, turned to the victims and relatives in the courtroom and tried to restore calm.
“I understand Mr. Margraves’ frustration but you cannot do this,” she said. “This is not helping your children.”
The hearing resumed after a short break, with the judge addressing what she called a “scary” scene.
“My heart started beating fast and my legs started shaking,” Cunningham said. “We cannot react by using physical violence,” she said, noting she could not imagine Margraves’ pain as a father.
Nassar is also serving a 60-year federal term for child pornography convictions.
His case has sparked broader outrage after numerous victims accused USA Gymnastics, the sport’s governing body, and Michigan State University, where Nassar worked, of failing to investigate complaints about him going back years. U.S. Olympic officials have also been criticized by some of the sport’s biggest stars, including gold medalists Aly Raisman, Simone Biles and McKayla Maroney.
On Thursday, the police department in Meridian, Michigan, apologized publicly to one victim for declining to press charges against Nassar in 2004 when she reported that he abused her. The Wall Street Journal also said on Thursday that U.S. Olympic officials did not intervene after being told in 2015 that USA Gymnastics had uncovered possible abuse by Nassar.
USA Gymnastics’ board of directors agreed to a demand by the U.S. Olympic Committee that they all resign in the wake of Nassar’s sentencing, as did the president and athletic director of Michigan State. The scandal has prompted several investigations into those institutions.
