Gymnastics Doctor's Accusers File Suit to Overturn Gag Order
Women who have accused a high-profile gymnastics doctor of molesting them filed a federal lawsuit Tuesday, seeking to overturn a gag order that limits what they can say about the case.
Ingham County Court Judge Rosemarie Aquilina put the restrictions in place last week after a request from defense attorneys for Dr. Larry Nassar. The gag order applies to all potential witnesses, which could include more than 80 women and girls who have lodged sexual abuse complaints against the physician.
"I do not understand how a judge in Michigan can legally order me not to speak to other women about what happened to me, not to speak to my friends, not to speak to my family, not to speak to law enforcement, parents of gymnasts, not to speak to legislators, not to speak on social media, and not to speak at all about what happened to me," Jamie Dantzscher, who won a bronze medal in the 2000 Olympics, said in an affidavit.
"I'm concerned if I violate the order, even accidentally, I could be put in jail at the request of Dr. Nassar," Dantzscher, who testified before Congress about the abuse last week, wrote in the document.
The lawsuit charges the gag order is "vague and staggering in breadth" and violates the Constitution. It asks the federal court to issue a temporary injunction preventing it from being enforced.
Nassar, who was a team doctor for USA Gymnastics for more than two decades, has pleaded not guilty to charges he molested patients and to federal child pornography charges.