Cox gets 20 years for trying to kill wife

Calling him guilty of a prolonged and violent attack on his wife, a judge today sentenced prominent McHenry County businessman Billy J. Cox to 20 years in prison, a term the defendant's lawyer labeled a virtual life sentence.

Cox, 66, sat stoically as Judge Joseph Condon issued the sentence that will make the noted scientist and founder of a hugely successful business eligible for parole no sooner than 2021.

The Bull Valley man had faced up to 60 years in prison after a jury found him guilty in April of attempted first-degree murder and aggravated domestic battery in connection with a September 2004 attack that nearly killed his wife of 43 years, Carolyn Cox.

The charges alleged Cox beat his wife with a blunt object and then locked her in a garage alongside two running vehicles intended to kill her through carbon monoxide poisoning.

In a lengthy courtroom statement directed toward her husband today, Carolyn Cox repeatedly asked him why he tried to take her life.

"I loved you and I cared about you, so why?" she asked. "You had everything life could offer. Why did you decide to destroy it and me as well?"

Afterward, Carolyn Cox, who sustained a skull fracture in the attack and continues to suffer from diminished hearing and sight as a result, said she is satisfied with the 20-year term.

"Any way you look at it, this is so tragic," she said. "It is a life wasted for no good reason."

Cox, the founder of Richmond-based Exacto Inc., did not speak on his own behalf when given an opportunity today. Earlier this week his attorney, Mark Gummerson, said Cox felt sorry for his wife's suffering, but would not make a public apology for a crime he maintains he did not commit.