Man accused of abandoning baby in woods near Bend enters plea

An Ohio man accused of leaving his baby in the woods south of Bend back in May pleaded not guilty to child abandonment and other charges during a court appearance Friday.

Brandon Michael Blouin, 26, also is charged with first-degree custodial interference, second-degree child neglect, endangering the welfare of a minor, criminal mistreatment and felon in possession of body armor.

On May 10, Blouin allegedly left his 1-year-old son, Bradley, alone for at least six hours while he went looking for the boy’s mother. A major search for the child led to a Deschutes County sheriff’s deputy finding him unhurt, laying face-down in the dirt.

Prosecutors said the boy’s father and mother were believed to have been under the influence of a controlled substance. He is accused of unlawfully taking the boy from his grandmother, in West Virginia, who a court there had determined was the child’s legal guardian. Donations poured in for the boy after the story drew widespread attention.

Deschutes County Circuit Judge Michael Adler scheduled Blouin’s six-day trial to begin next April 23, after an April 18 trial readiness hearing. He’s also due back in court in December for a hearing on pre-trial motions.

Defense lawyer Karla Nash also filed notice Friday of Blouin’s “intent to rely upon evidence of mental disease or defect” in the case.

She referred to ORS 161.295, a state statute that says a person with “a qualifying mental disorder” at the time of an alleged crime can be found “guilty except for insanity,” if “the person lacks substantial capacity either to appreciate the criminality of the conduct or to conform the conduct to the requirements of law.”

The statute goes on to say the “qualifying mental disorder” does not include “an abnormality manifested only by repeated criminal or otherwise antisocial conduct, nor does the term include any abnormality constituting solely a personality disorder.”