Convicted sex abuser and former Michigan State University sports doctor Larry Nassar was among 20,000 people removed from the state's sex offender registry after a supreme court ruling, according to the Eaton County Prosecutor's Office.
The Michigan Supreme Court ruled on Sept. 9 that any offender who was convicted of sex crimes that happened before July 1, 2011 be removed from the list.
Court justices ruled that Michigan violated both the U.S. and state constitution by requiring those registrants to comply with rules that didn't exist when they committed their offenses.
There were roughly 43,000 people registered on the list before the court's order.
The court order does nto affect on any conviction for any offender removed from the list.
Officials with the Eaton County Prosecutor's Office, which was one of the offices that prosecuted Nassar, strongly criticized the court's decision.
"The Michigan Supreme Court's decision to eliminate SORA requirements for these offenders is deeply concerning," the office said in a statement. "Our community, along with the victims of these crimes, expected the registry to provide a measure of protection and awareness—assurances that have now been removed by the Court's ruling."
Nassar pleaded guilty in November 2017 to molesting multiple girls and women at his Michigan State University office, his home and a Lansing-area gymnastics club, often while their parents were in the room.
He was sentenced to 40 to 175 years in state prison for the Ingham County charges and an additional 40 to 125 years for the charges in Eaton County.
He also pleaded guilty to child pornography charges at the federal level and received an additional 60-year sentence.
His federal and state sentences run consecutively.
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