Alford plea in neglect case
COEUR d'ALENE - The 55-year-old grandmother of twin 2-year-old girls who were found living in filthy conditions with untreated injuries on their bodies entered a modified guilty plea in Kootenai County District Court Monday.
Ruth K. Cassidy, of Coeur d'Alene, entered an Alford plea to one count of felony injury to a child. A second and similar count was dropped by prosecutors who also agreed to limit any sentence recommendation to that arrived at by the state in a presentence investigation report.
District Court Judge John Luster scheduled Cassidy's sentencing for April 13.
Kootenai County deputy prosecutor Donna Gardner said the girls were found living in conditions described by police as "unhealthy, to say the least."
Gardner added, "They were dangerous conditions."
Health-care providers who examined the girls after being taken from their home found they had "purposeful," and "nonaccidental injuries," Gardner said.
Cassidy cried during Monday's hearing. Luster agreed to release her from Kootenai County jail, but she can't leave the state. She doesn't have previous felony convictions.
Gardner said the twins' mother, Elisabeth C. Crossley, 26, is likely to be arraigned next week. Crossley is charged with two felony counts of injury to a child.
Crossley's twins were found Dec. 5 living in the filthiest conditions police here have ever witnessed. A passer-by alerted police to the danger. Crossley and Cassidy were living at an apartment on the 1200 block of North Lincoln Way in Coeur d'Alene with the girls.
Crossley was arrested after the girls were found sealed off in a bedroom, with no clothes, bedding or furniture. The girls were covered in fecal matter, as were the walls and floor. The girls had bruising on various parts of their bodies and open sores.
The girls are living in protective custody. Scott Lewis Crossley, 41, of Sacramento, Calif., who believes he is likely the girls' biological father, is getting a paternity test. He wants custody.
Idaho statutes say each count of felony injury to a child is punishable by up to 10 years in prison.