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Education is a big issue in northern Michigan, whether we're reporting on school funding issues to breakthroughs in the classroom.

Ex-MSU coach will go to trial as fallout of Nassar scandal continues

Kathie Klages (right).
Cheyna Roth
Kathie Klages (right).

Stateside's conversation with reporter Cheyna Roth on Thursday's hearing.

Kathie Klages (right).
Credit Cheyna Roth
Kathie Klages (right).

A former Michigan State University coach was back in court Thursday on criminal charges.

An Ingham County District Court judge determined there was enough evidence to send Kathie Klages to trial. She’s charged with a misdemeanor and a felony.

Prosecutors say Klages lied to law enforcement during their investigation into what MSU knew about Larry Nassar and when. Nassar is the former MSU sports doctor serving a de-facto life sentence. Hundreds of women say he sexually assaulted them under the guise of treatment.

Prosecutors say Klages lied when she told law enforcement that no one reported Nassar’s behavior to her.

Larissa Boyce says she was a teenager when she saw Nassar. She says she told Klages that Nassar digitally penetrated her without gloves.

“She said that I must be mistaken, that she had known Larry for years and years. And that they were good friends and that he would never do anything inappropriate,” says Boyce.

Mary Chartier is Klages’s attorney. She says the real liar was the investigator who interviewed Klages.

“He lied to her about taping the interview, he lied to her about her being a target. He lied to her over and over. Lied to her so much, he doesn’t even know if there are other lies that he told her,” says Chartier.

Chartier also says that anything Klages said did not have an impact on the investigation.

Copyright 2021 Michigan Radio. To see more, visit Michigan Radio.

Cheyna Roth
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