Outrage has followed reports of a father in Arkansas trying to sell his baby boy for $1,000 and a six-pack of beer. See the media report here. Trying to sell your children (or any child) is a crime in Arkansas and is a crime here in Maryland. If you are arrested for trying to sell your child, hopefully, it is all a mistake, and you should call a Maryland criminal defense attorney like the ones at the Law Office of Robert Castro. Call us at (301) 870-1200 or use our contact page. We are available around the clock, 24/7. We are seasoned and skilled Maryland criminal defense lawyers with offices in Waldorf, Maryland.

Section 3-603 of the Criminal Code of Maryland makes it a crime to attempt to sell your baby. The crime has three elements:

• Selling, bartering, or trading (or offering to do such)
• A minor (a person under the age of 18)
• For money, property, or anything else of value

Nothing else is required. That is, the prosecuting attorneys do not need to prove abuse, violence, use of a weapon, transportation, or anything else. Note further that an offer to sell a child is enough for conviction, and the child does not have to be a relative or related in any way to the person charged with selling a child.

If convicted, the person convicted is guilty of a felony and is subject to imprisonment for up to five years or a fine of up to $10,000 or both.

Very likely, a person charged with trying to sell a minor will be charged with many other crimes as well. Other possible crimes include:

• Child endangerment — Md. Crim. Code, § 3-204
• Second Degree Child Abuse — Md. Crim. Code, §3-601(d)
• Neglect of a Minor — Md. Crim. Code, § 3-602.1
• And more

In addition, family and child protective services will be very likely involved and, likely, will seek to terminate parental rights.

In terms of potential criminal defenses, alibi, mistaken identity, and innocence might succeed depending on the facts. Essentially, the defense is that someone else tried to sell the child.

Intoxication might partially succeed. With respect to the Arkansas father, the media reports indicate that he was wildly drunk at the time he made the offer and signed the “contract” to sell his baby. Intoxication will sometimes work as a criminal defense. Intoxication can remove proof of an intent element necessary for a conviction. That might succeed for the crime of trying to sell a child, but, as noted above, in Maryland, intent is not a specified element of the crime. However, combining intoxication with the defense of mistakes might help to avoid jail time. Something like: “I was drunk, I was kidding, I didn’t mean it.” It is an ugly criminal defense, but the prosecutors and the judge might take some pity and order probation or a suspended sentence.

Sometimes, avoiding jail time is the best thing that can be accomplished in criminal defense. However, many other things are likely to be ordered, such as substance abuse counseling, family training classes, and more. Those excuses will not avoid the many interventions that will likely come from family and child protective services. Being intoxicated or “it was a joke” are never good defenses to attempts to terminate parental rights.

Contact Waldorf, Maryland Criminal Defense Lawyer Robert Castro Today

This article has been provided by the Law Office of Robert Castro. For more information or questions, contact our office to speak to an experienced Maryland criminal defense lawyer at (301) 870-1200. We are Waldorf, MD, Criminal Defense lawyers. Our address is 2670 Crain Highway, Waldorf, MD 20601.