Suspect pleads innocent
Shane Nickerson listens to the felony abuse charges against him during his arraignment in Flathead County District Court on Thursday morning. He is accused of assaulting a 9-month-old boy. Flathead County Detention Officer J. Cammack stands guard over Nickerson. Garrett Cheen/Daily Inter Lake
Marion man accused of assault on 9-month-old
A Marion man accused of physically and sexually assaulting his girlfriend's 9-month-old son pleaded innocent Thursday to felony abuse charges.
During his arraignment in Flathead County District Court, Shane Phillip Nickerson, 20, pleaded not guilty to sexual intercourse without consent, sexual assault, aggravated assault, and criminal endangerment.
He is being held in the Flathead County Detention Center in lieu of $750,000 bail.
The child has returned to the Flathead Valley after receiving treatment at Sacred Heart Hospital in Spokane. It is unknown whether the child will suffer long-term effects from his injuries, investigators said.
Officials with the Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services' Child and Family Services Division declined to comment about who has custody of the child.
According to court documents, sheriff's deputies were called to Kalispell Regional Medical Center about 10 a.m. on Aug. 9 after medical personnel found the child with bruises on his head, a bloody mouth, and injuries consistent with sexual abuse.
Doctors told detectives the boy had suffered traumatic brain injuries and respiratory failure.
From Kalispell Regional, the child was airlifted to Sacred Heart Hospital, where he was admitted with severe brain injuries from partial asphyxiation. A second medical exam also found that the boy had suffered other injuries consistent with sexual abuse.
The child's mother later told detectives that Nickerson had volunteered to watch the child while she slept in that morning. After two hours of baby-sitting, Nickerson woke the child's mother and said that something was wrong.
After observing bruising on the child's head and blood in his diaper, the mother asked Nickerson to drive her and the boy from the Wildebeest Lane home to the hospital.
Only Nickerson, the mother and her child were present in the home when the assault allegedly occurred, and the mother told detectives her son had been fine at bedtime the night before, investigators said.
If convicted of all charges, Nickerson faces up to 230 years in prison and a $200,000 fine.
Reporter Nicholas Ledden can be reached at 758-4441 or by e-mail at nledden@dailyinterlake.com