No remorse for crime he didn't do, lawyer says
Anyone expecting to see a tearful and remorseful Billy J. Cox confessing his sins and throwing himself on the mercy of the court when sentenced later this year on charges he tried to kill his wife probably is going to be sorely disappointed.
The attorney for the prominent McHenry County businessman and inventor said last week his client has no intention of showing contrition for a crime he continues to steadfastly deny.
"My client is not going to say he has remorse for something he didn't do, that much I can tell you," defense lawyer Mark Gummerson said.
Cox, 66, is scheduled to be sentenced Nov. 16 for attempted murder and aggravated domestic battery convictions stemming from a September 2004 attack on his wife of 40 years at the couple's Bull Valley estate.
After a three-week trial, a jury found Cox guilty in April of allegations he beat his wife, Carolyn Cox, nearly unconscious with a bat-like object then locked her in a garage alongside two running vehicles in hopes she would die from carbon monoxide poisoning.
Cox is the founder of Exacto Inc., a Richmond-based agricultural products maker that he and his wife built from a $250,000-a-year operation in the 1980s to one that did more than $10 million in sales last year.
Now the self-described nature lover faces up to 60 years locked up -- essentially a life sentence for a man his age -- when sentenced in November.
But first, his sentencing judge must navigate through several post-trial motions filed by the defense seeking a new trial.
The motions, scheduled to be heard Oct. 18, include claims that McHenry County prosecutors hid evidence from Cox's lawyers and allegations one of the jurors told an acquaintance during the trial she had made up her mind about the defendant's guilt.
No deal: A McHenry County man's claims that prosecutors reneged on a plea bargain that could make the difference between him spending at worst a few weeks in jail or many years in a state prison failed to win over a judge last week.
Judge Sharon Prather denied a request by Kevin M. O'Reilly of Wonder Lake that she force the McHenry County State's Attorney's office to abide by a plea deal offered last year, even though he initially rejected it.
O'Reilly, 45, now is facing six to 30 years in prison if convicted on a Class X felony charge of driving under the influence stemming from his June 2006 drunk-driving arrest. The charge -- the most severe DUI offense possible under state law -- was filed because O'Reilly has five prior driving under the influence violations, court documents state.
But lawyers for O'Reilly say he should be facing low-level felony, or perhaps even misdemeanor, charge because the McHenry County State's Attorney's office promised last year they would not file the Class X charge.
Under their deal, the defense says, O'Reilly had the option of pleading guilty to a misdemeanor DUI or, if he refused, a low-level felony DUI punishable by a maximum one to three years in prison.
O'Reilly rejected the offer and prosecutors responded by filing the charge as a Class X felony, court documents state.
Prather refused last week to make prosecutors stand by their original offer, saying that she does not believe O'Reilly's constitutional rights were violated by the state's change of heart.
O'Reilly now is scheduled to return to court Oct. 3 for a pre-trial status hearing. No trial date has been set.