The state Attorney General’s Office is trying to show that former Michigan State University president Lou Anna Simon lied to investigators to protect the university.
Simon was in court Monday for the second day of a hearing to determine whether she should stand trial for charges that she lied to law enforcement.
The two felony and two misdemeanor charges hinge on what Simon knew about a 2014 internal investigation into Larry Nassar – the former school sports doctor convicted of sexually assaulting his patients. Simon told law enforcement she didn’t know specifics about Nassar or the investigation until 2016 and later.
During the hearing, prosecutors tried to show that mistakes were made at MSU and argued that that would give Simon a motive to lie.
Kristine Moore worked in the Title IX office at Michigan State and opened the 2014 investigation.
“I did the best I could to follow process at the time and without the benefit of hindsight I think I did everything correctly at the time,” she said.
Simon’s attorney Lee Silver said attempts to bring in evidence of how the school handled sexual assault complaints aside from the 2014 investigation and evidence of MSU mishandling of the 2014 investigation were irrelevant and continually objected to the prosecutor’s evidence.
After the hearing, Silver said of the accusations that Simon had a motive to lie, “There’s absolutely zero merit to it in my opinion.”
