Opinion ID: 1855985
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: background for the charges

Text: In the months prior to August 5, 1987, Cox frequently stayed with Connie Ranne and her two children, 6-year-old Joseph and 3-year-old Christopher. Sometime in July of 1987, Christopher sustained submersion burns, which were first and second degree burns caused when Cox disciplined Christopher by placing him in the bathtub and running hot water on the child's feet. These burns, however, were not discovered by law enforcement officials until August 5, 1987, when Christopher was taken to the hospital with serious head injuries. On August 5, 1987, Cox, Christopher, and Joseph were in the Ranne home. Cox periodically forced Christopher to eat in the bathroom because Christopher didn't eat the way [Cox] wanted him to eat. Both children were eating in the bathroom when, for some undisclosed reason, Cox took Christopher downstairs and forced him to do pushups. According to Joseph, Christopher was crying during the pushups and Cox was telling him [Christopher] to do his pushups as he told him, but he didn't do it right, soand then he kept on spanking him if he wouldn't do it right. After the pushup incident, Cox carried Christopher back to the bathroom. Although Joseph believed that Christopher was asleep while carried by Cox, Christopher had actually suffered a subdural hematoma, a collection of blood between the skull or the bone of the head and the brain tissue itself. According to Cox's version of the incident, Christopher's head injuries resulted from the child's fall in the bathtub on August 5, 1987. Cox testified that he had placed the two children in the bathtub and proceeded downstairs to study for classes. About 10 to 15 minutes later, Joseph called out that Christopher was hurt. When Cox responded to Joseph's call, he found Christopher lying faceup in water in the bathtub. Joseph told Cox that Christopher had fallen and hit his head. As he pulled Christopher from the tub, Cox discovered that Christopher was not breathing. Cox began to administer cardiopulmonary resuscitation and then decided to take Christopher to the hospital. During Christopher's treatment at Midlands Community Hospital, hospital staff saw physical indications which led them to suspect that Christopher was a victim of child abuse. Tamara Field, a registered nurse at Midlands' intensive care unit, noticed that Christopher had multiple bruises all over his body and burns on his feet, his heels. When Christopher's condition began to deteriorate rapidly, he was removed from Midlands hopsital and flown by emergency helicopter to St. Joseph Hospital in Omaha. On arrival at St. Joseph, hospital personnel attempted to ascertain how Christopher had sustained burns to his heels. Cox told hospital personnel that the burns to Christopher's feet were caused by a combination of ill-fitting shoes and the fact that Christopher had walked barefoot on hot pavement. Cox's explanation about the burns was inconsistent with the nature or type of burns sustained by Christopher, inasmuch as the burns were anywhere from a week to a month old and were first and second degree burns, commencing on the bottom of Christopher's feet and continuing up the back of his heels. Dr. Douglas White, chief resident of St. Joseph's department of family practice, diagnosed Christopher's injuries as submersion burns, resulting when a child is dipped into hot water. In Dr. White's opinion, Christopher's injuries were submersion burns in view of the pattern of the burns, namely, similar burns on both heels with no sign of injury to the child's forefeet, a condition which indicated that Christopher's burns did not result from the child's stepping into a tub of hot water. While in St. Joseph, Christopher was treated for his head injury, but no treatment was prescribed for Christopher's burns. Pursuant to a request by personnel at Midlands hospital, an investigator from the Sarpy County Sheriff's Department, Officer Steve Grabowski, investigated Christopher's injuries. When Grabowski asked Christopher how his feet became burned, Christopher answered: Daddy had poured hot water on his feet. Later, Grabowski learned that Christopher, in using Daddy, was referring to Cox, who was later arrested and charged with two counts of first degree assault and one count of child abuse.