Gulfport man, 23, sentenced in ‘unfathomable’ abuse of his 2-month-old son
A Harrison County Circuit Court judge told a 23-year-old Gulfport man the child abuse he administered on his 2-month-old son was “unfathomable” before imposing a decades-long prison sentence.
Buddy Randall Cox will serve 25 years in prison for felony child abuse after admitting he hit his infant twice in the head because the baby would not stop crying.
Judge Lawrence Bourgeois sentenced Cox on Thursday, telling the father that his baby was “totally defenseless to the blows you inflicted.”
Paramedics were called to a house in Campbell Circle in September 2018 after a report that the baby at the home was not breathing. The infant was rushed to Memorial Hospital at Gulfport where emergency room doctors found bleeding on his brain, according to a release from District Attorney Joel Smith. The baby was transferred to Children’s Hospital in New Orleans, where he spent one month recovering.
“The baby suffered from seizures as a result of the brain bleed and also had retinal hemorrhages, permanent vision loss and elevated liver enzymes,” said ADA Alison Baker, who prosecuted the case. “This child has some lasting health effects from the abuse, but his recovery is nothing short of a miracle.”
Harrison County sheriff’s Inv. Nickolas Pennington said Cox confessed to hurting the baby in an interview after the incident. Trial was supposed to begin in March, according to the press release, but Cox failed to show up for court and an arrest warrant was issued.
Authorities found Cox at a hotel on U.S. 49 in Gulfport. He entered a guilty plea on the same day.
“The actions of this defendant were inexcusable. Although no punishment will fully restore this innocent child, we are hopeful that the prison sentence in this case will help to assist the victim and the rest of the family in the healing process,” Smith said in the release.
