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Not Guilty Plea In Tracy Girl's Murder

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Jun 12, 2009 6:12 pm US/Pacific

Not Guilty Plea In Tracy Girl's Murder

 Complete Coverage: Sandra Cantu Murder

STOCKTON (CBS 5 / AP) ― The Sunday school teacher accused of kidnapping, raping and killing an 8-year-old Tracy girl pleaded not guilty Friday to murder and other charges.

Melissa Huckaby's lawyer, Sam Behar, entered the plea on behalf of the 28-year-old defendant, who sat quietly beside him during a 10-minute hearing in San Joaquin County Superior Court.

Huckaby also pleaded not guilty to charges that she previously had drugged a 7-year-old girl as well as a 37-year-old man, whom police believe she had been dating.

The girl lives in the same mobile park where Huckaby lived just down the street from the murder victim, Sandra Cantu.

Huckaby is accused of killing Sandra, a playmate of Huckaby's young daughter, who went missing in March.

A massive search for the missing girl ended 10 days later when her body was found stuffed in a black suitcase pulled from an irrigation pond a few miles from the mobile home park.

Friday's plea came after increased pressure from prosecutors, who filed a request this week asking Judge Linda Lofthus to enter a plea for Huckaby if she refused to do so herself.

Behar had repeatedly requested more time to review hundreds of pages of evidence in the case before his client pleaded.

"I think we just needed to move things along," Deputy District Attorney Robert Himelblau said after Friday's hearing.

Huckaby is charged with murder with the special circumstances of rape, kidnapping and lewd or lascivious conduct with a child under 14, which could make her eligible for the death penalty if convicted.

She's charged with two counts of furnishing someone a harmful substance and one count of child endangerment in the drugging case.

A gag order remains in place, prohibiting attorneys, investigators and potential witnesses from commenting on the case.

The judge scheduled a preliminary hearing for Huckaby to start on Sept. 24.

(© 2010 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)

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