DA drops abuse charge of man convicted of manslaughter

Prosecutors dropped a charge of child abuse levelled against a man convicted In August of vehicular manslaughter in the crash that killed his 7-year-old daughter, Sophia Bella Cano Reveles, and David John Kelly, a 75-year-old from Green Valley.

The jury found John Reveles, 52, of Santa Clarita, guilty of two counts of vehicular manslaughter but was unable to reach a verdict on a single count of child abuse.

Reveles appeared Friday in San Fernando Superior Court where he learned the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office would not be proceeding with the charge of child abuse initially filed against him.

“The prosecutor told the court that we will not proceed on count 3 — child abuse resulting in death — so the charge was dismissed by the court,” D.A. spokeswoman Venusse D. Navid said Friday.

Reveles, who still faces a restitution hearing with regards to his conviction, learned Friday that the hearing is to be held later this month.

“The prosecutor told me that the restitution hearing will take place Nov. 22 in Department D for counts 1 and 2, of which the defendant was convicted by a jury in August,” Navid said.

Reveles was sentenced to 364 days in county jail on both misdemeanor vehicular manslaughter without gross negligence counts and time to run concurrent.

Reveles was reportedly driving his daughter to an extracurricular activity at the time of the crash, around 5:30 p.m. on April 29, 2017, according to California Highway Patrol officials, when his Toyota Tacoma truck crossed over the double-yellow lines, traveling southbound in the northbound lanes, around the 33000 block of San Francisquito Canyon Road.

Kelly and Reveles’ daughter were both killed in the crash, and John Reveles was left in critical condition for more than two weeks.

Reveles was not intoxicated at the time of the crash, according to officials familiar with the details of the investigation.