ARLINGTON, Virginia — The case of Commonwealth of Virginia v. Richard Cox had its first day at trial in Virginia’s 17th Judicial Circuit Court. The court is not disclosing to jurors that Richard Cox is a tier-three registered sex offender, the most egregious level.
Cox is facing a slew of charges in Arlington County, but this trial is only covering the child pornography charges and giving false identification.
The commonwealth’s opening statements focused on justice for the victimized children. Nassir Aborden, the deputy commonwealth attorney, said that while victims were not in the courtroom, the justice is for them, as he presented evidence that police officers had on Cox’s SD cards and cellphone. Aborden ended by telling the jury that bad things are happening all over the world, and this is the jury’s chance to do the right thing.
Defense argued in the opening statement that the child pornography images on Cox’s phone were in the cache of the phone, having not been accessed in years. Jurors were told that police would not be able to prove, without a reasonable doubt, that Cox actually saw them.
During jury selection, prosecutors, defense, and the judge said the fact that Cox identifies as transgender had nothing to do with the case; however, it was a major focus during the questioning of the jury. The commonwealth asked the jurors if they hold it against them for not using preferred pronouns. Aborden told the jury they will refer to Cox with male pronouns. Judge Daniel T. Lopez told the jury that no gender he uses to identify Cox means he agrees with either the defense or the commonwealth.
“It’s just a slip of my generation,” Judge Lopez told jurors.
The day began with a pretrial motions hearing where Cox tried, once again, to get evidence discovered on the cellphones thrown out. This time, trying to prove the warrant was unlawful.
Cox, who waived the right to a court-appointed attorney and chose to self-represent, argued that the detective who issued the warrant did not have probable cause. Cox argued the affidavit was too broad and the detective’s reasons, and that lewd acts and loitering at the Barcroft Rec Center were not justification for the warrant.
“Failure to cover up your body in a locker room just because other people don’t like it is not a crime,” Cox said.
The commonwealth argued the warrant was specific and detailed. It included exactly what they were looking for and where they wanted to look on the phone. The commonwealth noted the police did, in fact, find what they were looking for, as images of child pornography were on the phone and schedules highlighting various age ranges of gymnastics classes and pool lessons.
“We want officers to act the way Detective Grever acted,” Aborden said.
Lopez ruled there is ample probable cause for the warrants.
SEX OFFENDER TRIES TO GET KEY EVIDENCE THROWN OUT AHEAD OF TRIAL
“The probable cause is overwhelming,” Lopez said. “This is not a barebones warrant.”
The trial is expected to continue on Tuesday and Wednesday.