Pair Plead No Contest in Baby’s Death

An Antelope Valley man faces an 11-year state prison sentence after pleading no contest Friday in Lancaster to voluntary manslaughter in the death of his 5-month-old daughter, who was poisoned by the drug methamphetamine in February.

Under a plea bargain, Christopher M. Daugherty, 33, of Littlerock will get the maximum prison sentence for manslaughter at his Dec. 28 sentencing. But the original murder charge filed against him in the Feb. 20 death of his daughter, Sabreena Przybyszewski, will be dismissed.

In another plea bargain, Elizabeth A. Przybyszewski, 21, of Palmdale--the infant’s mother and Daugherty’s estranged girlfriend--pleaded no contest Friday to felony child abuse, and will be sentenced Jan. 4 to up to a year in county jail. She could have received as many as six years in prison if she had fought the charge.

The pleas settle the third of six child abuse deaths from the Antelope Valley profiled by The Times in September. Defendants in the three other cases are awaiting murder trials. Authorities since have confirmed a seventh and are investigating a possible eighth case in the area since mid-1991.

The Antelope Valley had 6,347 child abuse reports in the year ending in mid-1992, about 50% above the county’s average for the area’s population. And the region’s seven confirmed child abuse homicides from mid-1991 to mid-1992 were more than three times the county’s per capita rate.

Deputy Dist. Atty. John Portillo, who handled the Daugherty and Przybyszewski cases, said he was satisfied with the outcome. Portillo said he could have had difficulty at trial proving Daugherty intended to kill the baby, and proving which of the two had previously abused the girl.

Under the original murder charge, Daugherty faced a maximum sentence of 15 years to life in state prison, but could have been paroled after about 7 1/2 years. Under the plea bargain, he could be eligible for parole after about 5 1/2 years, prosecutors said.

The couple entered their pleas separately Friday before Lancaster Superior Court Judge Thomas Stoever. Daugherty remains in custody and Przybyszewski remains free on her own recognizance. Their pleas of no contest are the legal equivalent of guilty for criminal court purposes.

The coroner concluded Sabreena died of poisoning by the drug methamphetamine and from an extended period of physical abuse. Her father and mother were both admitted methamphetamine users, sheriff’s deputies said, but he had custody of the child for the day-and-a-half period prior to her death.

Methamphetamine use by parents or guardians was a factor in at least five of the seven confirmed Antelope Valley child abuse deaths, including Sabreena’s.

Apart from the drug poisoning, the coroner also found Sabreena had bruising around the wrists suggesting she had been tied, a large burned area on her lower left leg, evidence of 12 prior fractures to her ribs and scars on her feet.