Man acquitted of scalding young boy

A 28-year-old Whitefish man was acquitted last week of all three felony charges in connection with the severe burning of a young boy in a bath tub in 2008.

"Thank you, Lord," Juan Vasquez said amid tears and hugs with family members when the verdict was read on April 14.

Members of the jury, who deliberated for five hours, did not want to comment on their unanimous decision.

Saying Vasquez was "totally innocent," defense attorney Noel Larrivee called the incident "an unfortunate accident, a horrible accident" that should never have been prosecuted.

"It's easy to want to try and assign blame to somebody when someone is hurt that bad," he said. "I think the jury understood, and their verdict reflected what had happened."

Prosecuting attorney Tra-vis Ahner said it was "clear the jury took things seriously," but he expressed disappointment in the outcome.

According to Whitefish police, Vasquez called 911 from the Ramsey Avenue home of his girlfriend, Nicole Foiles, on Oct. 14, 2008, to report a badly burned boy. Police suspected Vasquez, who was baby-sitting Foiles' five-year-old son, of placing the boy in a bath tub and filling it with scalding water.

The boy, who received second- and third-degree burns over 40 percent of his body, was sent to Harborview Medical Center's burn unit, in Seattle, where he was treated for three months and received extensive skin grafts.

Vasquez was arrested Dec. 10, 2008, and charged with felony aggravated assault and felony criminal endangerment. A third felony charge, assault on a minor, was brought in March this year. Vasquez faced up to 35 years in prison and a $150,000 fine.

Whitefish paramedics Brian Wood and Sara Peterson testified in court that the young boy was laying on a bed screaming and crying in pain when they arrived. Wood said Vasquez told him the boy was filling the bathtub on his own. Both Wood and Peterson said they had no information about whether or not the scalding was an accident.

Seattle Police Det. Donna Strangeland testified about her interview with the boy a few days after the incident. She said the boy was 'very upset, crying, sobbing and shaking" when asked about the event and appeared to be scared of Vasquez.

When Larrivee accused Strangeland of asking leading questions, she admitted that 'some of those questions could be construed as leading," but she maintained that she was 'repeating back information (the boy) had already reported."

The boy's two older sisters testified that they were in the kitchen of the mobile home at the time of the incident but unable to see what happened in the bathroom. Foiles testified that when she arrived home from work, she found her son "laying on the bed, naked, and he was screaming for me and he didn't even know I was there."

Foiles said she's heard her son scream in his sleep since then. She also told the court that while Vasquez had never been physical with her, she knew of him being physical with her children.

One of the boy's sisters testified that the children were punished for lying by having dish soap put into their mouths. The boy had apparently spit up after getting the soap treatment and was getting a bath to wash off.

In his opening statement, Larrivee said the boy accidentally turned the hot water up too high, which caused him to recoil, slip, fall and hit his head. Meanwhile, Vasquez had stepped out of the room to do a load of laundry.

Larrivee described Vasquez as a caring and stable influence who looked out for and cared for Foiles' children.

"You're being asked to believe that somehow he snapped and hurt a little boy he'd been raising and then realized all of a sudden he must have done something wrong," Larrivee told the jury.

For his part, the young boy testified that he told Vasquez several times that the water was "hot" and Vasquez had said, "It's not hot." The boy said Vasquez left the bathroom "after he put my head under the water and I started kicking."

The boy also testified that when he tried to turn down the temperature, Vasquez returned and "turned it back hot" and wouldn't let him out of the tub.

"(The victim's' body speaks volumes about what took place that day," Ahner said in his opening statement. "You'll see the lifelong scars (the victim) will live with as a result of the defendant's actions."

Foiles testified that the hot water tank in the mobile home had been recently replaced, but she wasn't aware of problems with the hot water getting too hot.

Vasquez still faces a charge of fraudulently obtaining dangerous drugs. The county attorney's office filed the charge in February last year.

According to court documents, Vasquez signed for three of Foiles' prescriptions in her name at a Whitefish pharmacy while she was staying with her son in Seattle after the incident.

Foiles later told police she never received any of the prescriptions, which included painkillers and sleeping pills.

Vasquez strongly denied the drug charge during a Feb. 26, 2009, bond reduction hearing. His attorney, Carolyn Gill, said Vasquez was not a flight risk because a serious back injury limited his mobility and because of his extensive family connections in Northwest Montana. She also said the police reports of the boy's scalding were more consistent with negligence than an intentional act.

District Court Judge Stewart Stadler rejected Gill's motion and left Vasquez's bond at $120,000. Stadler reduced the bond to $50,000 in August last year after Vasquez's father testified about the family's limited finances. Vasquez was released after posting bond last November.