Giving your partner a sexually transmitted disease is now a form of domestic violence in New York state, a Long Island judge ruled in a \u201cgroundbreaking\u201d divorce decision that gave the aggrieved wife 100% of the couple\u2019s assets.<\/p>\n
The Dec. 1 ruling by Nassau County Judge Edmund Dane stemmed from the 2022 split between Thomas Saxton \u2014 a violent drug abuser with a long rap sheet \u2014 and his spouse, who he had multiple affairs and gave her herpes and HPV.<\/p>\n
The wife, whose name is being withheld by The Post, had to undergo surgery to remove cancer cells from her cervix apparently caused by the human papillomavirus\u00a0she contracted from Saxton, and will be on medication the rest of her life, she told the court.<\/p>\n
Thomas Saxton \u2014 who had multiple affairs with his ex-wife and gave her herpes and HPV \u2014 has a rap sheet that dates back to at least 2009 and includes multiple arrests, records show. WTBYPD<\/p>\n
Dane found the STDs were among Saxton\u2019s \u201cprofound acts of domestic violence\u201d against his wife, and awarded her all of the couple\u2019s assets, which included a few thousand from bank accounts and the meager proceeds from the sale of their home.<\/p>\n
This is the first time that transmitting an STD to a spouse has been deemed domestic violence and factored into a judge\u2019s decision on assets, Pace University Law Professor Morghan Richardson told The Post.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis decision is significant and, in many ways, a landmark victory for domestic violence advocates,\u201d Richardson said.<\/p>\n
While those who knowingly infect others with STDs can be prosecuted in New York, there\u2019s no indication Saxton will face criminal charges for infecting his wife.<\/p>\n
The ruling is \u201chuge,\u201d said lawyer Byron Divins, whose firm represented the wife.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo court has ever really, as far as I\u2019m aware, made [sexually transmitted diseases] the center of their decision,\u201d said Divins, of the Williston Park-based Capetola & Divins. The decision is based on a 2020 amendment to New York law which lets courts weigh domestic violence when determining how to split up marital assets.<\/p>\n
Police found multiple weapons in Saxton\u2019s possession after he was arrested in February 2022 for threatening his wife and child with a gun inside Cohen Children\u2019s Medical Center. NYPD<\/p>\n