ALBANY, Ore. -- A Linn County judge has ruled in favor of a man accused of trying to sell his girlfriend's baby.

   Andrew D. McCullom, 28, was indicted April 8 on a charge of buying or selling a minor. The authorities said he offered to sell, in December and January, custody of the woman's unborn child to the baby's aunt and uncle.

   The lawyer for McCullom filed a demurrer, a legal document contending that the offense for which his client was charged is not specifically prohibited by statute. Judge Carl Brumund agreed at a hearing this week, and McCullom was released from jail, the Albany Democrat-Herald newspaper reported.

   Deputy District Attorney Marty Wilde told the newspaper he has already spoken to the Oregon Department of Justice about filing an appeal.

   "While he believed the legislature intended to criminalize the sale of a prospective child in utero, the language of the statute was not sufficiently specific," Wilde said of Brumund's ruling.

   Wilde said McCullom initially wanted $60,000 to relinquish his rights to the baby.

   But McCullom, in an April letter to the Democrat-Herald, said the couple came to him and offered $1,000 and a truck. If he didn't take the offer, he said, the child's mother would get an abortion -- so he took the deal.

   McCullom had been in jail for two months on the baby-selling accusation. Before that, he was behind bars for four months because he violated the terms of his probation on theft and contempt of court convictions.

   The baby was born in May.