GRANGEVILLE — The first jury trial in Idaho County since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic is set to begin Monday.
Forrest J. Pilant, 21, is accused of felony injury to a child and aggravated battery. Pilant was arrested in November 2019 and has been free on $35,000 bail in connection with the case. He pleaded innocent to both charges. The trial was scheduled a number of times throughout the past year but was postponed until now because of the pandemic.
Jury selection will begin under guidance established by the Idaho Supreme Court for 120 jurors summoned to appear before Judge Gregory FitzMaurice in 2nd District Court in Grange-ville. Those rules limit crowd size to no more than 20 potential jurors in the courtroom at any time during the selection process and require masks to be worn at all times.
Pilant, 21, is charged in connection with the injury to a 15-month-old child between Nov. 7 and Nov. 30, 2019. The child was brought to the Syringa General Hospital emergency room by ambulance, where medical staff discovered bruises on both jaws and other parts of her body. She was unresponsive, but breathing, at the time and taken by Life Flight helicopter to Providence Sacred Heart Medical Center in Spokane. There, she underwent surgery to relieve bleeding in her brain, according to the criminal complaint.
During a preliminary hearing in December 2019, a witness said Pilant had been alone Nov. 30 caring for the child, who is not his biological offspring, and an older child. Pilant told the responding Grangeville Police officer he was giving the child a bath and she apparently fell in the tub.
Medical personnel who examined the child after she was brought to the hospital said the injuries were inconsistent with falling in the bathtub.
The trial is expected to last four to six days. Pilant is being represented by the Idaho County public defender McFarland Law Offices. Idaho County Prosecutor Kirk A. MacGregor represents the state.
Hedberg may be contacted at kathyhedberg@gmail.com or (208) 743-9411.
