Injury to child trial could be postponed

COEUR d’ALENE — The trial of a Post Falls couple who are also half-siblings, and who allegedly abused a 6-year-old boy by starving and beating him, could be postponed, according to a First District judge who said he would consider setting a new trial date.

District Judge Scott Wayman on Friday told attorneys for Joy Tamika Anderson, 30, and Melvin Bledsoe, 37, who are accused of beating Bledsoe’s 6-year-old son and striking him hard enough to burst his pancreas, that he would consider moving their trial to summer.

The two-week trial had been set for April 24.

Wayman told defense attorney Jerri Lynn Brooks, who represents Anderson, to file a motion requesting a later trial date.

“I am not in a position right now to continue the trial,” Wayman said. “However, if you file a motion for a continuance, and the state goes along with that …”

Kootenai County public defender Anne Taylor opted not to waive speedy trial rights for Bledsoe, an indication that she was ready to move ahead with a spring trial.

Prosecutors agreed the trial should be set some time in summer.

Bledsoe and Anderson have pleaded not guilty to injury to a child and incest, both felonies. Injury to a child carries a prison sentence of up to 10 years, and incest can carry a life sentence.

In an earlier hearing, Wayman ruled the couple will stand trial together for the injury to child charge, but the judge split the incest charges into a separate case.

According to court records, the 6-year-old, who lived with the couple, was examined by physicians last autumn who learned he had a ruptured pancreas. The couple didn’t immediately seek medical attention for the injury, despite the intense pain and bloating caused by fluids seeping into the boy’s body cavity.

Life-saving surgery was performed at Sacred Heart Medical Center, and state caregivers told authorities the injuries were among the worst they had witnessed.

The couple is also accused of tying the boy to a bed in a locked room, refusing to feed him, and using his stomach as a trampoline by standing and bouncing on it.

Bledsoe is being held in the Kootenai County Jail on a $200,000 bond and Anderson’s bond is $75,000.