Indiana woman gets 55 years in 3-year-old's beating death
LAFAYETTE, Ind. (AP) - A northwestern Indiana woman convicted of murder in the beating death of her 3-year-old son was sentenced Tuesday to 55 years in prison.
A judge also sentenced 31-year-old Crystal Cox to two years of probation for the July 5, 2021, death of her son Zeus.
A jury in May found the Lafayette woman guilty of murder and neglect.
Her boyfriend, Jermaine Garnes, is scheduled to be tried on murder and neglect on charges in October.
'Å“What happened to Zeus, the abuse he endured at 3 years old, is unfathomable," Deputy Tippecanoe County Prosecutor Elyse Madigan said.
Authorities said Cox allowed Garnes to punch Zeus in the chest several times, rupturing Zeus' intestines in four places, breaking his ribs and rupturing his kidneys. Additionally, Zeus had bruises and cuts from head to toe, forensic pathologist Dr. Darin Wolfe testified.
Garnes is scheduled to stand trial in October for murder and neglect.
Cox plans to appeal her conviction and sentence, the Journal and Courier reported.