HAMPTON, Va. (WAVY) — The 30 additional child abuse and neglect charges against a man currently serving a 45-year sentence for the murder of his son were set aside Thursday.

In March 2024, a jury found Cory Bigsby guilty of second-degree murder in the death of his 3-year-old son, Codi Bigsby, and then hiding his dead body, which has not yet been recovered. Thursday, Judge James Hawks, the same judge who sentenced Cory Bigsby last year, agreed to set aside the charges over the objections of Cory Bigsby’s attorney, Curtis Brown.

Last month, Hampton Commonwealth’s Attorney Anton Bell said his office did not wish, for now, to prosecute Cory Bigsby, now 46, on the additional charges because the primary witness, who was four and five-years-old at the time of the offenses, is currently undergoing therapy as a result of Bigsby’s actions.

“Due to his age and the serious nature of these charges, the Commonwealth would like the opportunity for [the child] to continue his counseling and therapy before subjecting him to another jury trial, so as to better … protect his mental and emotional well-being,” the court filing states.

During Cory Bigsby’s March 2024 trial, his oldest son, Codi Bigsby’s older brother, testified. Seven-years-old at the time, the boy sat at a table in a separate room with representatives from both the Commonwealth and the defense. The dramatic testimony was given in real time and relayed into the courtroom on video.

“He described on the stand the bruises on the face of that dead body, his brother,” Bell said. “He talked about how he was trying to play with a dead body, tried to wake up a dead body, how he called to and pushed a dead body.”

Asked whether he could see how such testimony could have been damaging for a 7-year-old, Brown said, “Yes, I have grandkids that age. I understand it and I have no problems with it, but just give me some proof that that’s what the situation is.”

The Commonwealth has said that son, and one of Codi Bigsby’s surviving twin brothers, would testify on the current child abuse charges.

“The twins were in the room too,” Bell said. “They slept in a room with a dead body. No one’s talking about that. No one’s talking about what happened at the hands of this monster.”

Thursday, a judge granted the Commonwealth’s motion to nolle prosse the 30 charges of child abuse against Bigsby. The decision sets aside, until further notice, 28 felony counts involving child abuse and two misdemeanor charges of failing to seek medical help for a child (Note: Nolle prosse is shorthand for the Latin, “nolle prosequi,” which means “not to wish to prosecute,” but a nolle prosse of charges allows prosecutors the possibility of refiling those charges at a later date).

Brown said the prosecution either needs to take the additional charges to trial or drop them altogether.

Although Cory Bigsby did not report his son, Codi Bigsby, missing until late January 2022, his murder conviction last spring fixed the child’s death as June 18, 2021. The child abuse charges involving his other three sons span a time frame beginning a few months before Codi Bigsby was killed until seven months after his death.

“Try the case,” Brown told reporters Thursday outside the courthouse. “They don’t even have the dates for these charges. All the dates say from February 1, 2021 to February 1, 2022. Now what kind of charge is that? When did it happen?”

Bell said there’s no timetable for deciding whether to prosecute Bigsby for the alleged child abuse. It will be based on how well the boys progress with their therapy.

“If the mom decides it’s too much,” Bell said, “I absolutely am not going to force that issue.”