On second thought, that's a guilty plea

COEUR d’ALENE — Joy Tamika Anderson pleaded guilty Friday to two counts of injuring a child and two enhancements that could land her behind bars for 60 years at the discretion of a First District Court judge.

Anderson, who was arrested in October along with her live-in boyfriend and brother, 37-year-old Melvin Bledsoe, is accused of beating Bledsoe’s 6-year-old son, tying him to a bed, stepping on him and starving him. The conduct resulted in injuries that required life-saving surgery, according to police.

Anderson initially pleaded not guilty to the charges that included a count of incest, but the 30-year-old formally accepted the plea agreement Friday afternoon in Coeur d’Alene after learning Bledsoe would testify against her in an Oct. 2 jury trial.

The latest guilty pleas resulted in the trial’s cancellation.

Anderson’s plea bargain will allow prosecutors to argue for a 60-year sentence, while defense attorneys can argue for less.

“Meaning we can recommend whatever we want and she can recommend whatever she wants,” deputy prosecutor Laura McClinton said. “There are no mandatory minimums.”

Felony injury to a child carries a maximum 10-year sentence. Anderson’s attached enhancement adds 20 years to the sentence for a single count. That means the combined counts kick the maximum penalty up to 60 years.

Aside from a few details, the agreement mirrors Bledsoe’s. The incest charges against Anderson and Bledsoe were dismissed.

Bledsoe was convicted of felony injury to a child in 2012 and served two years probation after being sentenced to a four-year suspended prison sentence.

The couple was arrested last year after Post Falls police documented scars and scabs on his boy’s hips, buttock thigh, and along the spine. Wounds included gouges and cuts and the boy was reported to have dried blood on his penis, leg ulcers, a cut on an eyebrow, and a cauliflower ear. Police believe the 235-pound Anderson stood on the boy’s abdomen, causing his pancreas to rupture. The boy weighed 43 pounds.

Sentencing for Anderson and Bledsoe is set Nov. 30 in Coeur d’Alene.