Pair pleads innocent to assaulting toddler

A Columbia Falls couple has pleaded not guilty to felony assault on a minor after allegedly abusing the woman’s 16-month-old daughter.

Samantha French, 20, and her fiance, Nickolas Fox, 19, entered the pleas Thursday in Flathead District Court

French and Fox were arrested following an investigation into a Dec. 17, 2011, report from Kalispell Regional Medical Center.

According to court documents, the child’s father picked her up that day from French and initially noticed some bruising on her face.

French told him the bruising had been caused by a dog. The child began vomiting after the father left with her, and he took her to the hospital, where she was admitted to the intensive care unit. Fox is not the child’s father.

Hospital records showed that the child had bruises on her face and hand, retinal hemorrhaging in both eyes and a subdural hematoma — bleeding in the brain caused by traumatic brain injury.

When detectives spoke with French about the child’s bruises, she allegedly shared the same story about the dog before becoming silent. She then began crying and said she caused the bruises on the child’s face when she “grabbed her face really hard” after the child refused to take a bottle.

During the investigation, detectives obtained an email exchange between French and Fox in which Fox allegedly wrote that he had seen her slap the child in the mouth and “slam her into the crib.”

Also discovered was an email in which Fox stated that he smacked the child and cried afterward because he “felt terrible.”

French allegedly told detectives that Fox has anger problems and punched holes in the walls of their home.

She already has relinquished her parental rights.

If convicted, Fox and French each face up to five years in prison and a fine of up to $50,000.

Their next hearings are scheduled for Wednesday, Feb. 15.