For Nassar accusers, testifying 'takes a lot of courage'

MASON — There’s a yellow piece of tape near the top of a ledge with a meaning relevant to only one seat in this small, brick-walled courtroom.

It reads, with its black letters in all caps, “Please speak directly into microphone.”

That microphone, with a neck long enough to be used for a Congressional hearing, sits just in front of that piece of tape on a small table with nothing else but a box of Kleenex.

On Friday, as on two other occasions this year, women and girls walked into this courtroom through the same dark, wood door and took a seat in the same maroon office chair, its upholstery designed to look like leather, and told a courtroom full of people how they say Larry Nassar sexually assaulted them.

Friday was the second day of a preliminary hearing to determine if the case against Nassar, and its 15 first-degree criminal sexual conduct charges, proceeds to Circuit Court for trial. There will be a third day next month. And a hearing set in Eaton County at the end of June to make a determination on seven more sexual assault charges there.

For the most part, testimony of the nine women and girls in these two cases will be the same. They all say Nassar sexually assaulted them during medical appointments, and that he digitally penetrated their vaginas.

But the response to the experience of testifying, which for some has lasted hours, is different for each. Some have sat still and poised, their hands folded on the table in front of them. Some have been more restless.

Among the youngest to testify in this case is a teenage girl identified in court records only as Victim D. She sat in that chair Friday morning for the second time this month, called back to complete testimony that started May 12. 

As she sat, the chair turned slightly to look at Matt Newburg, one of Nassar's attorneys, her elbows on the chair's arm rest and her fingers along the table's edge. Her left foot occasionally waving back and forth below the table.  

Newburg mainly asked her about her early gymnastics career and its accompanying injuries. 

Minutes after Newburg's questioning ended, Assistant Attorney General Angela Povilaitis asked her what she felt when Nassar penetrated her vagina with his ungloved hand. 

"Uncomfortable" and "yucky" she said to a courtroom filled with people. 

Povilaitis then asked her what she felt when Nassar was providing other treatments. 

"I felt fine and those were helpful," she said, a distinction that could hurt a defense strategy that what Nassar did was medically appropriate and helpful.

Later Friday morning, through that same wood door, Victim A walked in and took her turn in the maroon chair. The second teenage girl to testify on Friday, she wore a light pink blazer and a gray skirt. 

She took her seat and began her testimony.  

Few people can understand what she was about to experience, testifying in open court about a reported sexual assault. Even fewer have done so in high-profile cases. Ryan Lewis and Heather Boyer have.

Lewis was a young boy when he says his pediatric dentist, Wendell Racette raped him on several occasions, often while he was under the effects of nitrous oxide. Between 2011 and 2012, Lewis testified at a preliminary hearing and two trials. It was Shannon Smith, one of Nassar’s attorneys, who negotiated Racette's plea deal that released him from prison when, after a successful appeal of his conviction, he was ordered to stand trial for a third time.

Boyer was raped in the late 1990s by Curtis Marco Williams, who later was convicted of raping nine women. Boyer, who currently works as a victim advocate in Eaton County and as the legal advocacy program administer for SAFE Place, testified at Williams' preliminary hearing and his trial. 

She said the days leading up to testifying are intense and terrifying. They can be filled with more trauma and anxious waiting. 

But, she added, despite the stress and insomnia and flashbacks, testifying is "the beginning phase of the evolution from victim to survivor."

Lewis described testifying, which for him spanned days at trial, as nerve wracking and draining, but also empowering. His emotions went from anger to nervousness to trepidation, especially during cross examination.

“I just never want the public to lose sight of this,” Lewis said. “They read that article and then go home. They see it on TV and then they turn the channel. This is that person’s life. Their entire life is on display. It’s not something they can change the channel on or turn the page from.

“I don’t want people to ever forget how brave it is. … It takes a lot of courage and that can be forgotten.”

Even among those who have testified, with her role as a victim advocate, Boyer has a perspective many don't. She now prepares others to testify. She said her office will give someone who's going to testify a small stone to hold onto.

The small object in their hands gives them something to focus on, she said. 

Lewis didn't have a stone. He counted ceiling tiles, he said. 

For Victim B, a teenage girl and the final reported victim to testify on Friday, it appears she, like Lewis, might have found an object for her focus, maybe without even thinking. 

At several points while testifying, usually while listening to a question, she rotated and fidgeted with a ring on her left hand. 

"That wasn't fun," she said at the end of her testimony, which lasted more than 45 minutes and included detailed accounts of her reported sexual assault.

And then, in response to an effort by the judge to lighten the heavy mood -- a judge who had checked in on how each reported victim was doing during their testimony -- the teenage girl added, "I would much rather go to the dentist."

ContactMatt Mencarini at (517) 267-1347 or mmencarini@lsj.com. Follow him on Twitter@MattMencarini.

What's next

The preliminary hearing for Larry Nassar, 53, of Holt, will continue on June 23 in 55th District Court in Mason. The hearing will determine if there's enough evidence for Nassar to stand trial on sexual assault charges.