What would you do? If your daughter was a victim of a notorious child predator — and you were in a courtroom ten feet away from him — what would you do?
A father of three girls who all gave statements of the abuse they suffered at the hands of serial pedophile Larry Nassar rushed the defense table and tried to physically attack the former sports doctor in an Eaton County, Michigan courtroom on Friday.
Before the altercation, Randall Margraves was given an opportunity to speak to the court by Judge Janice Cunningham during a sentencing. Nassar was previously sentenced to up to 175 years in prison, but this current hearing was to determine sentencing for three other counts of criminal sexual conduct, according to ESPN.
“I would ask you — as part of the sentencing — to grant me five minutes alone with this demon,” Margraves said before the understanding Cunningham denied his request. “Would you give me one minute?”
“You know that I can’t do that,” Cunningham responded. “That’s not how our legal system works.”
Before Cunningham could finish her sentence, Margraves rushed the defense table in a noble attempt to attack Nassar before being restrained by multiple police officers.
As Margraves was about to be taken out of the courtroom he said to the officers, “What if this happened to you guys?”
Cunningham addressed the courtroom after a 30-minute recess:
I'm sorry that happened. I'm sorry you had to experience it. My heart started beating fast and my legs felt shaky because of that quick eruption of violence[…]
To have watched the pain and suffering that loved ones have gone through is unimaginable. If it is hard and difficult for me to hear what his daughters have to say, I can't imagine what it is like for a parent. No one is making any excuses for what the defendant did in this case. However, these are legal proceedings, and the criminal justice system is doing what it's supposed to do.
While I agree in pretty much every case that we should let the justice system do its job, the outrage of this heartbroken father is certainly understandable, if not justified.
It shouldn’t be common practice or anything — and maybe I’m wrong — but in this instance I say we give this guy five minutes with Nassar. Five minutes for a lifetime of pain for multiple father’s daughters.
For video of the incident, watch below: