NOT GUILTY: Dr. Jason Nolan Cox was found not guilty of the charges he faced, as reported by the Valdosta Daily Times Feb. 28, 2008. 

Jurors heard testimony from family physician Dr. Antoinette Patterson Tuesday during the first day of trial in the case against her former husband, Dr. Jason Cox, accused of abusing their two year-old daughter in 2004.

Patterson, a key witness for the state and the mother of Cox’s three children, recalled the night her daughter received “red, bluish and purple” bruises and welts on the front and back of her legs, her buttocks and an area on her back near her kidneys. According to her testimony, the child had been misbehaving and Cox affirmed that he was “gonna break her will” while pointing his finger in Patterson’s face.

Patterson further stated that Cox was always more of a disciplinarian than her. However, she did assert that despite his treatment toward her, he was a good father to the children before the incident, which occurred between 9:30 p.m. Dec. 7, 2004 and 12:30 a.m. Dec. 8, 2004. She added that to her knowledge, Cox had abstained from corporal punishment since the incident.

Patterson, who had been contemplating divorce from the defendant before Dec. 8, 2004 testified that she left Cox after her daughter received the wounds and a divorce was made final between the former couple Aug. 4, 2005. The children went through counseling for four to five months after the incident and Patterson testified that she is still receiving counseling.

The children’s nanny, Laurie Millrous, also took the stand Tuesday, speaking of her experiences with the defendant before and after the incident. Millrous stated that she had not noticed any bruises on the child prior to the night of Dec. 8. However, when she came in the next morning, Patterson informed her that Cox had beaten the child with a spanking tool for three hours.

“When I went in to look at her, she was still sleeping,” the witness said. “As Antoinette and I began to undress her, I noticed the red marks and we began to cry.”

Millrous said that the two planned to take the child to the emergency room when Cox had left for work. Patterson took the other two children to school as she did daily. Millrous left the house with the toddler to avoid running into Cox as he returned from working out and prepared to go to work. Patterson and Millrous met up later in Cecil, picked up the other two children and went to South Georgia Medical Center to have the toddler examined.

Though Millrous admitted being upset about the incident, she also expressed her opinion that Cox seems to be the more nurturing parent. She stated that she sometimes faced conflict with Patterson because Patterson hardly disciplined the children, but she noticed a positive difference in the children when they returned from visits with Cox. Millrous added that the children would be devastated if their father went to prison.

Millrous was firm in her belief that the children received more affection from their father, but further testimony revealed that she still found Cox’s acts toward his daughter “excessive and cruel.” She is also on the record for saying that she did not see “how Antoinette could live with him.”

Other witnesses for the state included SGMC personnel who examined the child Dec. 8, 2004. While the prosecution argued that Cox maliciously beat the child with a spanking tool, made by Cox’s father, the defense contended that Cox was simply disciplining his daughter and that the excessive bruising was an effect of thinning of the skin due to nasal steroids the child had been taking.

Testimonies given by medical personnel about the scars and bruises on the child were consistent with that of Patterson and Millrous. However, there was also mention of bruising on the child’s feet. Though the physician agreed that nasal steroids could cause thinning of the skin, he said that it is rarely an issue unless the medication is used in high doses or over long periods of time. Patterson and Millrous both testified that the child receive Nasonex for seasonal allergies occasionally, but not on a regular basis. Witnesses from SGMC also testified that the child showed no signs of emotional distress, a factor the defense argued was inconsistent with child abuse.

At press time Tuesday, the last witness for the state was being examined. Court will resume this morning at the Cook County Courthouse in Adel.

Cox faces conviction on felony charges of cruelty toward children.

Cox was also indicted by a grand jury in Lowndes County in September 2005 on charges of family violence/battery and aggravated battery in connection with an incident that occurred June 20, 2004, at his former home on Lake Laurie Road.

Cox allegedly caused bodily harm to his former wife, rendering her eardrum useless by “striking said victim about her head and face with his fist,” according to the indictment. He was arrested Dec. 10, 2004 in connection with this incident after his former wife came forward because of what happened to her daughter, according to investigators.

While the jurors and witnesses were out Tuesday, the defense suggested that Patterson may have used the abuse of her child as an excuse to divorce Cox because she was allegedly involved with a doctor at another local hospital, whom she spent Valentine’s Day with in 2005 after her split with Cox.