VANCOUVER, Wash. – A Ridgefield man charged with attempting to circumcise his 8-year-old son at home has pleaded not guilty to second-degree assault of a child.
Superior Court Judge Diane Woolard accepted the plea from Edwin B. Baxter, 33.
Baxter initially told Woolard he did not understand the charge, and then asked for a new court-appointed attorney. After a brief discussion with defense attorney Tony Lowe, Baxter returned to the bench and entered his plea.
Baxter is being held in Clark County Jail on $50,000 bail in the Sept. 3 incident. Police said he apparently attempted the procedure after reading about it in the Bible, and called 911 when he felt the boy was losing too much blood. The child was treated at a local hospital and released.
Authorities still have been unable to locate Baxter’s wife and nine children, said Kim Farr, Clark County’s senior deputy prosecutor. The family, which vanished after Baxter’s initial court appearance, has apparently abandoned the rental home where the boy was injured.
The house is surrounded with a high fence, where a copy of the U.S. Constitution is posted.
In the past, the family had been reported to the state Department of Social and Health Services for failing to enroll the children in school. Many of the children were not born in hospitals, and thus have no birth certificates, Farr has said, and none of the four boys is circumcised.
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