A man pleaded not guilty Thursday to murder and other counts stemming from the death of his girlfriend’s 3-year-old son at her Lancaster home in February.
Rena Lydell Naulls, now 40, was charged March 14 with one count each of murder, assault on a child causing death and possession of a firearm by a felon, according to the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office.
The charges include an allegation that Naulls personally used a knife during the commission of the attack Feb. 20.
David Jacques Hernandez of Lancaster died at a hospital, the Los Angeles County Department of Medical Examiner reported.
The boy died from an incised wound of the neck, according to records from the medical examiner’s office.
Citing unnamed sources, the Los Angeles Times reported earlier this year that the boy was found in a bathtub with his throat cut.
Deputies who responded to the home found Naulls suffering from a “medical emergency,” according to the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.
Naulls tried “to take his own life” at the home, where the boy lived with his three older siblings, who were not harmed, sheriff’s officials said.
Naulls — who was initially identified as a “person of interest” — was taken to a hospital, officials said.
The defendant was moved March 4 to a county jail facility, and remains behind bars, jail records show.
He is due back in a Lancaster courtroom Sept. 18. A hearing is set then to determine if there is enough evidence to allow the case against him to proceed to trial.