The state Senate Public Safety Committee voted 4-0 yesterday to recommend Clayton Frank as director of the state Department of Public Safety, finding that he has the experience necessary to bring stability to the department.

The full Senate is expected to confirm Frank tomorrow.

Gov. Linda Lingle nominated Frank, a 26-year veteran of the department, after the Senate last session rejected Iwalani White after eight months as interim director. The department has had a succession of directors over the past several years.

State Sen. Will Espero, D-20th ('Ewa Beach, Waipahu), the chairman of the committee, said Frank had the support of his colleagues in the department. He also said Frank had expressed regret for actions that led to a sexual discrimination lawsuit against the department in the 1990s. The state paid a nearly $2 million settlement to women at the department who claimed Frank and other high-ranking officials had discriminated against them.

FATHER CHARGED WITH BEATING BABY

A preliminary hearing is scheduled for tomorrow in District Court for a man accused of severely beating his 7-month-old infant daughter.

Pulumataala Ala Soga Eli, 32, who has no permanent local address, was charged yesterday with first-degree assault and is being held in lieu of $150,000 bail. Eli surrendered to police Saturday at Kapi'olani Medical Center for Women & Children Pediatric Intensive Care Unit, where the infant is being treated for severe injuries.

According to an affidavit filed in District Court, the child's 16-year-old mother told police she and Eli were arguing in a parked van at Ala Moana Beach Park on Wednesday and that he blamed the infant for the argument.

Eli, who is 250 pounds, allegedly struck the child twice on her forehead with an open hand, grabbed the child from her car seat by the left arm and threw her to the back of the van, the mother said. He then picked the child up and threw her several more times before grabbing the car seat and throwing it at the infant, she added.

It was at that point the child stopped breathing, the mother said.

The couple took the child to Kapi'olani hospital's emergency room, where Eli allegedly told his girlfriend to say the child fell out of his hands.

Police were called because of the child's suspicious injuries, which included old fractures of the left ribs and a fractured knee.

STABBING SUSPECT WAS ON PROBATION

An unemployed Kalihi man arrested Sunday in connection with the stabbing death of his wife was convicted in September 2005 for three felony firearm offenses.

Melchor Balolong Adviento, 50, was sentenced to five years probation on the firearm counts.

Adviento was arrested for second-degree murder at his Kalihi residence at 2110 Kahaha St., where his wife's body was found in the bedroom. Adviento was taken to the The Queen's Medical Center, where he was recovering from stab and slash wounds to the chest, arms and stomach.

Adviento was released yesterday pending further investigation as investigators have been unable to question him. He is likely to be charged with murder upon his discharge from the hospital.

The Honolulu Medical Examiner's office yesterday identified the victim as Erlinda Adviento, 44. An autopsy determined she died of stab wounds to her heart and lung.