The mother of a 17-month-old girl found mortally wounded last month inside a Santa Monica apartment pleaded not guilty Thursday to murder and assault charges.
Carmen Anita Degregg, now 25, is charged with one count each of murder and assault on a child causing death involving her daughter, whose name has not been released.
Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Theresa R. McGonigle ordered Degregg — who has been behind bars since her Jan. 6 arrest — to remain jailed in lieu of $2 million bail.
She is due back in a downtown Los Angeles courtroom April 23. A date is scheduled to be set then for a hearing to determine if there is enough evidence to allow the case against her to proceed to trial.
Degregg faces a maximum of 25 years to life if convicted as charged, according to the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office.
The Santa Monica Police Department said police were notified Jan. 6 that UCLA Police had detained a woman on campus after she made statements indicating she had harmed her child and left the infant inside an apartment in the 2000 block of Broadway.
Officers responded to the residence, where the child was found inside an apartment with “significant injuries,” police said.
Santa Monica Fire Department personnel took the child to a hospital, where the toddler was pronounced dead, according to police.
Santa Monica Police Lt. Lewis Gilmour said he could not confirm media reports that indicated a frying pan was involved in the child’s death.
“The allegations in this case describe extreme violence against a child who was entirely vulnerable and unable to protect herself,” District Attorney Nathan Hochman said in a statement shortly after the charges were filed last month. “When a parent is accused of causing a child’s death, our office has a duty to act decisively and to seek the maximum accountability permitted by law.”
Richard Mejia, director of emergency communications and information at UCLA, said Degregg “has no known affiliation with the university.”