Convicted offender pleads guilty to additional charges

A convicted sex offender and prison inmate pleaded guilty Thursday to eight additional charges of abuse.

Warren L. Hamilton, 36, entered guilty pleas to four counts each of lewd conduct with a child under 16 and sexual battery of a minor child 16/17 as part of a plea agreement in Lewiston's 2nd District Court. All charges are felonies.

A Nez Perce County grand jury indicted Hamilton in June with nine counts of lewd conduct with a child under 16 and four counts of sexual battery of a minor child 16/17. The charges stem from Hamilton's alleged abuse of three children from 2003 to 2007, according to court records.

Prosecutors agreed to dismiss five additional counts of lewd conduct with a child under 16 in exchange for Hamilton's guilty plea. Hamilton faces the possibility of up to life in prison and a $50,000 fine on each of the charges when he is sentenced Nov. 19.

In pleading guilty Thursday, Hamilton told 2nd District Judge Carl B. Kerrick he was accepting responsibility for his actions.

Hamilton is already serving a three- to 10-year prison sentence for separate rape and lewd conduct with a child under 16, charges that arose from the abuse of an extended family member from October 2003 to April 2004.

An Idaho Department of Correction inmate, Hamilton has been in the Nez Perce County Jail since July during adjudication of the case.

He is represented by defense attorney Neil P. Cox.