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 “groundbreaking” divorce decision that gave the aggrieved wife 100% of the couple’s assets.
The Dec. 1 ruling by Nassau County Judge Edmund Dane stemmed from the 2022 split between Thomas Saxton — a violent drug abuser with a long rap sheet — and his spouse, who he had multiple affairs and gave her herpes and HPV.
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 she contracted from Saxton, and will be on medication the rest of her life, she told the court.
Dane found the STDs were among Saxton’s “profound acts of domestic violence” against his wife, and awarded her all of the couple’s assets, which included a few thousand from bank accounts and the meager proceeds from the sale of their home.
This is the first time that transmitting an STD to a spouse has been deemed domestic violence and factored into a judge’s decision on assets, Pace University Law Professor Morghan Richardson told The Post.
“This decision is significant and, in many ways, a landmark victory for domestic violence advocates,” Richardson said.
While those who knowingly infect others with STDs can be prosecuted in New York, there’s no indication Saxton will face criminal charges for infecting his wife.
The ruling is “huge,” said lawyer Byron Divins, whose firm represented the wife.
“No court has ever really, as far as I’m aware, made [sexually transmitted diseases] the center of their decision,” 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.
Divins credited trial attorney Alexandra Mule for proving the case against Saxton — who was arrested in 2022 for pulling a gun on his wife and their child while the family was at Cohen Children’s Medical Center.
Saxton, 38, whose arrest record stretches back to 2009 in Connecticut, was found to have multiple weapons, including ghost guns, after the hospital incident.
He pleaded guilty in January 2024 to weapons possession and is now serving a seven-year sentence in an upstate prison.
Saxton repeatedly threatened to kill his spouse; had multiple affairs; once threw a dirty frying pan at her; and spent hundreds of dollars a week on drugs, including heroin, crack and cocaine, according to the judge’s decision.
He even brought one of his paramours home while his wife and child were present.
The wife tearfully described how she had not slept with anyone outside her marriage — and how the resulting infections left her with “agonizing” pain.
The court found her account credible.
“I felt really vindicated through the whole thing after reading his decision,” she said, noting her ex “never even tried” to deny the allegations.
She urged other domestic violence victims to get help, acknowledging it’s “scary” to come forward.
Saxton, who did not have a lawyer during the divorce proceedings, could not be reached for comment.
The judge’s ruling is going to make cheating spouses “a little more careful” when they mess around, said matrimonial attorney Ankit Kappoor, whose office is based in Times Square.
“Historically, I would tell the guys to get a DNA test, but now I’m going to tell them to have an STI test,” he said.
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