Jail is ordered in abuse case

SANDPOINT — A Hayden man was ordered to serve 30 days in jail Monday for injuring a 1-year-old infant in his care last year.

Axel Roy Anderson inexplicably asked to be incarcerated in a state prison rather than serve the time at the Bonner County Jail, court records show. Anderson also insisted that he not be placed on probation.

Although Anderson pleaded guilty to injury to a child at the felony level, 1st District Judge Barbara Buchanan said the offense didn’t warrant confinement in a state prison. Save for an offense as a juvenile, Anderson had no prior criminal record as an adult, Buchanan said.

Anderson, 22, was accused of injuring the Bonner County girl in May 2016. The child turned up at Bonner General Health with bruises to her neck and arm, according to court documents.

Anderson told investigators he grabbed the child by her collar to keep her falling down a flight of steps. A BGH emergency department doctor, however, told investigators that the dark bruising was consistent with abuse, court records indicate.

The child also had a broken blood vessel in her left eye, also known as subconjunctival hemorrhaging, which is a type of hemorrhaging in infants that can be indicative of physical abuse, according to court records.

Bonner County Deputy Prosecutor Katie Murdock moved for photographs of the infant to be filed under seal with a presentence report in the case, court records show. Murdock recommended a suspended one- to three-year prison term and six months of local incarceration.

Buchanan ultimately gave Anderson credit for 13 days of pretrial incarceration and ordered him to serve 30 more, court records indicate. Anderson laughed upon being ordered to complete an anger management counseling, prompting Buchanan to point out that the counseling was apt given the circumstances of the case.

Buchanan further ordered Anderson to complete 100 hours of community service and imposed a no-contact order with the child that will expire when she reaches the age of majority. Anderson was given a withheld judgment, which means he can petition the court to have his conviction blotted from his record upon completion of his court-ordered obligations.

The injury-to-child charge that was brought against him, however, would remain on his record.