ARLINGTON, Virginia — On the second day of the Commonwealth of Virginia v. Richard Cox trial, the jury was shown images of child pornography that expert witnesses claim were found on Richard Cox’s cellphone and SD card.
Jurors began looking distressed and uncomfortably shifting around, having to view the pornographic images. One woman covered her face in shock, and a few women even noticeably teared up as image after image was shown. One man took an audible sigh of relief as the disturbing images were taken off the screens in front of them.
Detective Leslie Grever took the stand and described dozens of photos she claims to have found on Cox’s phone and SD cards while they were projected on screens for the jury. She described images of children as young as three years old engaging in sexual acts.
Grever, who has been with the Arlington County Police Department for eight years, testified that digital forensics found websites on the phone with URLs containing words such as ‘teens,’ ‘kids,’ and ‘young girls’ combined with sexual terms.
The defense and the commonwealth spent most of the day arguing with expert witnesses about whether Cox actually viewed these images, since they were stored in the phone’s cache.
The defense filed a motion to strike the evidence from the phone saying some of the images were not egregious enough to constitute the definition of child pornography in Virginia. Judge Daniel Lopez denied the motion, saying it will be for the jury to decide.
Cox was arrested at the Barcroft Recreation Center back in December 2024 for entering the female locker room while minor children were in various stages of undress. Arlington County allows people to use the bathroom of the gender they identify with, regardless of their biological sex. Cox, who is a biological male, claims to be transgender. Cox is facing a slew of charges in Arlington County and has a second trial for those charges in April.
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The trial will continue on Wednesday at Virginia’s 17th Judicial Circuit Court, where closing arguments and jury deliberation will take place.
Cox is a tier III registered sex offender and if convicted, this will be the third time Cox has been found guilty for the same child pornography charge.
