Man accused in missing child case wants charges dropped

Calvin Melvin, Brittney Sierra charged in Dontrell Melvin's disappearance

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – A man accused of lying to police officers as they searched for his missing son asked a judge to drop some of the charges filed against him.

Calvin Melvin Jr. pleaded not guilty to providing false information to a law enforcement officer last week.

On Wednesday, Ed Hoeg, Melvin's defense attorney, filed a motion to reduce the three counts of providing false information to a law enforcement officer from third-degree felonies to first-degree misdemeanors, which may have lowered his $151,000 bond.

The judge denied the motion.

"The only trauma they have on the baby is after it died. We don't know how the baby died," said Hoeg.

Hoeg also filed a second motion to dismiss those three charges. The judge scheduled a hearing for March 22 regarding the two motions.

Melvin, 27, and Brittney Sierra's son Dontrell Melvin was last seen in 2011 when he was six months old. Sierra is charged with two counts of neglect of child.

Investigators believe their son is dead.

A Broward Sheriff's Office deputy discovered the boy was missing while investigating an unrelated child neglect case on Jan. 9.

Police say Melvin and Sierra blamed each other for the child's disappearance, but both told detectives where to find the child. Remains believed to be Dontrell were found buried in the back yard of a home the couple rented in Hallandale Beach.

Those remains were sent to the University of Texas, where DNA tests results are expected back in two to three weeks.

"This charge, currently as it's charged now, we anticipate it being a homicide," said prosecutor Sheila Alu. "DNA is out right now waiting for the DNA to come back to prove the fact that this baby is Dontrell."

"That doesn't prove a murder," said Hoeg. "If you read the statute, we had two motions to dismiss -- one is based on the fact that he's the one who gave the information to police. He's the one, if he did make any contradictory statements, he came clean. He told the truth. That's why they have a case -- because of Calvin Melvin."