Mom reaches plea deal in abandonment case

A 27-year-old Spokane-area woman has reached a plea agreement after being charged with abandoning her young children along Interstate 90 in Post Falls in October. Shannon Duval’s attorney Larry Purviance told the Coeur d’Alene Press that Duval has agreed to plead guilty to one count of felony injury to a child in exchange for prosecutors recommending a probationary sentence. Purviance says the hearing is scheduled for next month. Duval remains in custody. A construction worker found the boys, ages 3 and 6, along the road at about 9 a.m. on Oct. 30. The boys said their mother had run out of gas and had gone for help and that it was dark and raining when she left. Duval was arrested that evening at a residence in the Spokane area. The children were placed in foster care.