COEUR d’ALENE — A former Coeur d’Alene teacher accused of molesting a child outside of school pleaded guilty Friday in Coeur d’Alene’s First District Court to injuring a child, a misdemeanor.

Former Lake City science teacher Jeffrey L. Kantola, 51, told the court he would take advantage of the favorable plea bargain, and that he understood the court wasn’t bound by the plea agreement at sentencing.

The Alford plea called for two years probation for Kantola, who was indicted by a grand jury and charged last year with two counts of lewd conduct with a child, punishable by a maximum sentence of life in prison.

The felonies were dismissed Friday.

Depending on the severity of the allegations, a conviction of misdemeanor injury to a child can have penalties ranging from probation to a year in jail.

By using an Alford plea, a guilty plea whereby the defendant doesn’t admit to the crime, Kantola asserted his innocence.

The original felonies stemmed from allegations that Kantola had sexual contact with a teenage girl last spring, but his attorney, Chris Schwartz, told the court at an earlier hearing that evidence used in the indictment was distorted, and that witnesses withheld favorable evidence.

“The testimony... intentionally misled the grand jury and withheld crucial exculpatory material,” according to the brief filed in First District Court. “The officer mischaracterized statements by the defendant and withheld information in his possession that was probative to establishing the defendant’s innocence.”

Schwartz wanted the court to dismiss the charges against his client because, he said, prosecutors had presented prejudicial evidence, “specifically testimony regarding unrelated court proceedings involving the defendant...”

The lewd conduct accusations surfaced after Kantola, a former chiropractor, was placed on leave by the Coeur d’Alene School District after parents learned he had earlier been prohibited from being a chiropractor in Washington because of sexual allegations.

He was placed on leave by the Coeur d’Alene School District before resigning with a $30,000 settlement.

The case has been remanded to the magistrate court for sentencing. No date has been set.