Mother accused of infant murder pleads not guilty

KENNETT, Mo. -- A 24-year-old Campbell, Mo., woman accused of murdering her infant daughter in May appeared in court on Monday for a plea hearing, pleading not guilty to the charges.

According to the Dunklin County Prosecuting Attorney's Office, Joanna Faucett and her attorney, public defender Charles Hirth, appeared before Judge Stephen Sharp, pleading not guilty to the charge of second-degree murder, a Class A felony.

Faucett was then scheduled for a pretrial hearing on Feb. 18, with a jury trial to follow on March 9.

Faucett was arrested in May in connection with the death of her one-month-old daughter after authorities discovered that the infant appeared to have been strangled to death. She remains in custody at the Dunklin County Justice Center on a $100,000 bond.

Assistant Dunklin County Prosecuting Attorney Jonce Chidister said the child was one of a set of triplets, however, the other infants were not at the home at the time of the incident.

In July 2008, Faucett had another infant who died at 16 days old, believed at the time to be due to a co-sleeping incident.