Child's death triggers charge

SANDPOINT — A criminal charge has been filed against a Bonner County woman whose child died after becoming trapped in a vehicle near Spirit Lake in June.

Samantha Renee Lewis, 23, is charged with injury to a child at the felony level. Lewis made an initial appearance in Bonner County Magistrate Court on Tuesday. Judge Lori Meulenberg appointed a public defender to represent her, court records indicate.

Lewis, whose maiden name is Thompson, is free on her own recognizance while the case is pending. If convicted as charged, Lewis faces up to a year in jail or up to 10 years in prison.

A preliminary hearing in the case is pending. That hearing will determine whether there's enough evidence to bind Lewis over to 1st District Court to stand trial.

Bonner County sheriff's investigators were summoned to a home in the 100 block of Walden Lane north of Spirit Lake on June 11, after the 3-year-old boy was found unresponsive in a parked vehicle. Lewis attempted unsuccessfully to revive the boy, sheriff's officials have said.

Lewis and her boyfriend, both of whom worked late-night shifts, picked the boy up from daycare at about 7 a.m., according to sheriff's officials. The mother put on a television program for the child to watch, but the child ended up going outside with his two dogs and entering the parked vehicle.

The boy was found at about 12:45 p.m. Preliminary findings indicated that the child died of hyperthermia, although a formal cause of death is not yet listed in court documents. Police reports and probable cause affidavits have not yet been filed in the case.

The child's biological father was stationed at a U.S. Air Force base in Nevada when the boy died. The Idaho Supreme Court Data Repository indicates that Lewis was in the process of divorcing the father at the time of the death.

The criminal complaint alleges that Lewis placed the child in harm's way by going to sleep and leaving the child unattended "knowing the child's propensity to leave the house and wander."

Bonner County Chief Deputy Prosecutor Shane Greenbank was not immediately available for comment on Tuesday.