Beckner Pleads Innocent in Child Beating Case

Beckner Pleads Innocent in Child Beating Case

WAITSBURG – Waitsburg resident Tysen R. Beckner, 25, was arraigned in Walla Walla County Superior Court on July 6 where he pleaded innocent to severely beating a four-year-old boy.

Beckner was allegedly involved in a fight outside the Whiskey Creek Bar and Grill in Waitsburg on the night of June 17, after which his girlfriend, Waitsburg resident Shaylynn M. Johnson, was arrested on a warrant, according to court documents. Relatives said that Beckner was left in charge of two young children overnight in the apartment he shared with Johnson.

On June 18, medics were called to the apartment after a family member checked on the children and observed multiple bruises and bite marks all over the four-year-old’s body.

The child was taken to Providence St. Mary Medical Center and later transferred to Spokane. An infant, also in the home, was uninjured.

Beckner was arrested in Nez Perce County, Ida., on the night of June 18. He was later extradited to Walla Walla, where he faces charges of assault of a child in the first degree – domestic violence, a Class A felony with a maximum penalty of life imprisonment. Beckner’s trial is set for Aug. 18 in Walla Walla County Superior Court.