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Ex-MSU gymnastics coach charged with lying to police will go to trial

close up of Katyh Klages and other woman
Cheyna Roth
/
Michigan Radio
Former MSU gymnastics coach Kathy Klages will go to trial for felony and misdemeanor charges for lying to law enforcement.

An Ingham County judge denied a request Wednesday to dismiss a felony charge for an ex-Michigan State University gymnastics coach.

Kathie Klages is charged with lying to law enforcement during an investigation into former MSU sports doctor Larry Nassar. The Klages prosecution is part of a broader investigation into how Nassar was able to sexually assault his young patients for decades.

She is accused of lying about gymnasts coming to her and disclosing that Nassar did things to them that made them uncomfortable. Two women who were teenagers in 1997 say they reported Nassar to Klages, but she did nothing.

Klages’s attorneys say the district court judge should not have sent the case to circuit court for trial.

Judge Joyce Draganchuk disagreed.

“The district judge did what the district judge is supposed to do," Draganchuk  said. “Analyze the evidence, assessed credibility, and found that the standard was met.”

Prosecutors say Klages told law enforcement that no gymnasts came to her with concerns about Nassar. But during an evidentiary hearing in September, former gymnast Larissa Boyce said she told Klages Nassar digitally penetrated her without gloves.

Before becoming the newest Capitol reporter for the Michigan Public Radio Network, Cheyna Roth was an attorney. She spent her days fighting it out in court as an assistant prosecuting attorney for Ionia County. Eventually, Cheyna took her investigative and interview skills and moved on to journalism. She got her masters at Michigan State University and was a documentary filmmaker, podcaster, and freelance writer before finding her home with NPR. Very soon after joining MPRN, Cheyna started covering the 2016 presidential election, chasing after Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton, and all their surrogates as they duked it out for Michigan. Cheyna also focuses on the Legislature and criminal justice issues for MPRN. Cheyna is obsessively curious, a passionate storyteller, and an occasional backpacker. Follow her on Twitter at @Cheyna_R
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