Michigan Ruling Strikes Larry Nassar From Sex Offender Registry

Michigan's Supreme Court has ruled that the state cannot apply certain sex offender registry requirements retroactively, and that decision forced the removal of Larry Nassar, the former USA Gymnastics team physician, from Michigan's sex offender registry, according to an OutKick report published Oct. 1, 2026.

What did the Michigan Supreme Court decide?

The court found that the state cannot apply registry requirements to someone after the fact if those requirements did not exist at the time of the person's original offense, OutKick reported. The ruling is not limited to one case. It applies broadly to registrants across Michigan whose listings depended on rules added after their offenses, according to the report.

Why was Larry Nassar removed from the list?

Nassar, described in the OutKick report as "the disgraced USA Gymnastics physician," had his name struck from the Michigan State Police sex offender database as a direct result of the ruling, the outlet reported. The report did not specify when Nassar was originally added to the registry or which specific registry requirement triggered his removal. HTT News could not independently confirm those details from the material provided.

How many other people lost their registry listing?

Nassar is one of more than 20,000 people whose names were purged from the state police database because of the decision, according to OutKick's Oct. 1, 2026, report. The outlet did not break down how many of those 20,000 registrants are still serving separate criminal sentences, nor did it list other names affected by the purge.

Does this change Nassar's criminal case?

The ruling addresses only registry listing requirements. It does not undo any criminal conviction or sentence tied to a separate case. OutKick's report did not address Nassar's current legal or custodial status beyond confirming his removal from the registry. Removal from a sex offender registry is a distinct legal action from a criminal sentence, and a registry ruling alone does not reverse a conviction.

What should Michigan residents expect now?

OutKick's report did not detail how Michigan State Police plan to notify the public about the mass removal, or whether state lawmakers intend to respond to the ruling with new legislation. Residents who search the registry by name or address may see fewer results going forward, given the scale of the purge described in the report. Anyone relying on the registry for background checks or community notifications may want to confirm current listings directly with Michigan State Police, since more than 20,000 entries were removed at once.

HTT News will update this report if additional details about the ruling, including the case name and the court's full reasoning, become available.