Ruiz pleads not guilty to beating infant

EPHRATA — A Royal City man pleaded not guilty to charges of assaulting his infant daughter, who doctors say suffered severe brain injury along with fractures to her skull, ribs and limbs.

Ruben Herrejon Ruiz, 20, appeared before Grant County Superior Court Judge Evan Sperline Tuesday, pleading not guilty to first-degree assault of a child. He's being held in Grant County Jail on $100,000 bail.

Public defender Mike Aiken represented Ruiz Tuesday.

Sperline scheduled a trial date of March 6. A pretrial conference is set for Feb. 21.

Grant County Prosecutor John Knodell said Ruiz's 3-month-old daughter is not in "substantial danger" of dying. Knodell said she is likely to suffer permanent brain damage and blindness to one eye.

The daughter, born in October, was taken to Sacred Heart Children's Hospital in Spokane in late December with what police called "suspicious injuries," according to an affidavit for arrest.

The girl's mother, who Knodell said he currently does not plan to charge, told investigators some of the infant's injuries were inflicted when the child was pushed off a bed in the family's Royal City apartment by a 1-year-old sibling. The girl was strapped in a car seat at the time. She began crying and had trouble breathing after the fall, when the mother called 911, the affidavit states.

What investigators identified as a possible bite mark on the girl's cheek was caused by a bottle cap she fell asleep on while in the car seat, the mother told authorities. The mother couldn't explain the other injuries, saying the sibling may have also hit the 3-month-old.

A 12-year-old relative told authorities a different story. The relative said he'd seen Ruiz violently shaking the infant on four separate occasions, trying to stop her from crying, a Grant County Sheriff's Office report states.

"(The relative) said that Ruben would (shake his daughter) when (she) cried, and that the first time he did this (she) stopped crying for a bit, but then started crying again," the report states. "(The relative) said that he did not see Ruben strike (the infant), or do any other thing that would appear to explain fractures to her extremities."