Father accused of stabbing child, throwing her off cliff, to stand trial

A registered sex offender accused of fatally slashing
his year-old daughter before throwing her off a cliff in the mountains south of
the Coachella Valley, and also attacking the child's mother and a good
Samaritan, was ordered today to stand trial on murder and other charges.

  Adam Slater, 50, was arrested May 7, 2020, in connection with a spate
of crimes the previous day that culminated in a rollover car crash on Highway
74 near Pinyon Crest, where he allegedly threw his daughter over ``a steep
cliff into a ravine,'' according to Riverside County sheriff's Sgt. Ben
Ramirez.

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  Following a preliminary hearing at the Larson Justice Center in Indio
Friday, a judge determined there was sufficient evidence to warrant trial on
the charges.

  In addition to murder, Slater is charged with attempted murder,
assault on a child under 8 years old resulting in death, assault with a deadly
weapon and resisting arrest.

  He also faces a special circumstance allegation of committing a murder
during the commission of a kidnapping, which makes him eligible for the
death penalty if the District Attorney's Office decides to pursue it, and a
sentence-enhancing allegation of using a knife in the commission of a murder.

  The judge scheduled an information arraignment for Aug. 1 and ordered
Slater to remain jailed without bail. He's being held at the Larry D. Smith
Correctional Facility.

  According to the sheriff's department, the series of events on May 6,
2020, began about 14 miles from the crash site in the 41000 block of Washington
Street, outside the Southwest Community Church in Indian Wells, where deputies
responded to a stabbing call about 8:30 a.m. that was described as a ``domestic
violence incident.''

  Deputies located an injured woman who was taken to a hospital with non-
critical injuries.

  Slater and the woman -- who was six months pregnant at the time of the
attack -- were married, and the year-old daughter was theirs together. The
woman was treated for multiple stab wounds.

  Following the attack, Slater allegedly sped away in a vehicle with the
child.

  Deputies learned soon afterward that a rollover crash reported on
Highway 74 around six miles south of Palm Desert could be connected to the
original call.

  According to sheriff's officials, passing motorists attempted to help
Slater and his daughter escape the wreckage, but he allegedly stabbed one man
attempting to help rescue his daughter.

  ``The suspect then took the girl from the arms of the male he stabbed.
Multiple witnesses saw the suspect take the child and throw her over a
steep cliff into a ravine,'' according to a sheriff's statement.

  In court Friday, California Highway Patrol Officer Graham Aanestad
testified he searched the area at the bottom of the cliff and saw hair peaking
out from a pile of rocks. The child was found there, and pronounced dead at the
scene.

  It unclear if she was already dead prior to being thrown off the
cliff. But Investigator Dario Hernandez with the Riverside County Sheriff
Department's Central Homicide Unit testified that an autopsy determined her
cause of death was multiple stab wounds to the chest.

  ``The injuries to the chest were consistent with an injury possibly
from a knife or some sort of object,'' said Hernandez.

  After throwing the girl, Slater ran down into a canyon, where deputies
detained him after a short foot chase, and he was taken to a hospital for
treatment of injuries connected to the crash, according to the sheriff's
department. Slater was discharged from the hospital the next day and arrested
shortly afterward.
  It was unclear if the man he allegedly stabbed required medical treatment.
  Slater was in violation of the terms of his parole, according to
California's Megan's Law website. He was convicted in 1995 of sexually
penetrating a victim with a foreign object by force and served about two years
in state prison before being released in 1997.
  The website did not provide specifics about his parole violation.