Local News in Brief : Man Accused of Trying to Sell Child Faces Trial
A Van Nuys Superior Court judge Monday dismissed one charge against a man accused of trying to sell his 2-year-old daughter for $90,000, but ordered the defendant to stand trial on the key charge of slavery.
Judge James A. Albracht ordered Alan Daniel, 30, of Van Nuys, to be ready for trial May 19 on the slavery charge and a charge of violating a court order. Albracht threw out a charge of dissuading a witness from testifying against him.
The last two charges relate to threatening phone calls that Daniel allegedly made to the Encino couple to whom he is accused of trying to sell his daughter.
In a taped conversation played at Daniel’s preliminary hearing in January, a man identified as Daniel’s said he would accept $15,000 as a down payment for the girl, with the balance due in installments.
Daniel, an unemployed house painter, fathered the child out of wedlock, police said.
Deputy Dist. Atty. Deborah S. Elliot said the dismissal of one charge against Daniel on Monday lowered the maximum prison sentence he could receive by eight months. He now faces four years, two months.
Peter Brown, Daniel’s attorney, argued that there was insufficient evidence to sustain any of the charges.
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