Trial begins in child-beating case
Shane Nickerson sits with his attorney, Noel Larrivee, on Monday during the first day of his trial. Nickerson is accused of sexually and physically abusing his girlfriend's son.
The mother of a child who was allegedly beaten and molested by Shane Phillip Nickerson tearfully recalled the day of the incident Monday in the opening of a trial in Flathead County District Court.
After a jury of six men and eight women were impaneled in Judge Stewart Stadler's court for opening arguments, the woman recalled waking up the morning of Aug. 9, 2008, and hearing Nickerson calling her name in his Marion-area cabin.
"Shane was holding (the boy) in his arms ... there was blood in his mouth and an abrasion on the side of his face," she said, later adding that the boy was "incoherent."
She said she asked Nickerson what happened to the nine-month-old boy and he said he didn't know.
"We were the only three people in the house," she said.
Nickerson drove her and the boy to Kalispell Regional Medical Center, and the boy was later transferred to Sacred Heart Hospital in Spokane, where he was treated for three days in pediatric intensive care. The boy has since recovered from his injuries and is now almost 2 years old.
The woman admitted on the stand to "shooting up" methadone the day before the incident and injecting Nickerson with methadone the night before.
Nickerson's attorney, Noel Larrivee, said in opening arguments that the defense would attempt to prove that the boy was a victim of "abuse and neglect" by his mother and "that's what this case is about."
He said the defense would show that she gave the boy methadone "to placate him" and that's how the boy's diagnosis of pulmonary edema (fluid in the lungs) occurred. Larrivee later suggested that his mother was responsible for the boy's condition on Aug. 9.
In her opening arguments, county prosecutor Lori Adams said the boy arrived at the hospital with bruises on the head, a bloody mouth and injuries consistent with sexual abuse.
The woman "is not mother of the year, not even close," conceded county prosecutor Lori Adams during her opening arguments.
Adams said the state would be calling witnesses from the Kalispell and Spokane hospitals over the course of a trial that's expected to last five days. And she said the state would produce DNA evidence related to the sexual abuse charges to show Nickerson was responsible for the boy's injuries.
Larrivee said the defense will challenge the validity of that evidence.
Nickerson pleaded not guilty in August 2008 to sexual intercourse without consent, sexual assault, aggravated assault, and one count of criminal endangerment, all felonies.
If convicted of all charges, Nickerson could be sentenced to more than 200 years in prison and fined $200,000.
Nickerson, who has been incarcerated since his arrest, also is facing unrelated assault charges for two separate alleged altercations with detention officers at the Flathead County jail.
In January 2009, he allegedly pushed a detention officer and then charged the door of his cell when officers tried to put him inside, punching one officer several times in the torso.
In April 2009, he allegedly advanced aggressively on another detention officer, who deployed his Taser.
Nickerson has pleaded not guilty to assault on a peace officer and attempted assault on a peace officer, both felonies, and is awaiting trial on those charges.