INDIANAPOLIS -- A couple accused of torturing and killing a 3-year-old girl went before a judge on Friday morning and were given a trial date, but one of them denied abusing the girl as he spoke to reporters outside the courtroom.

Charity Bailey, mother of TaJanay Bailey, and her live-in boyfriend, Lawrence Green, are expected to stand trial on March 10 in Tajanay's death, 6News' Julie Pursley reported. Not-guilty pleas were entered on their behalf and both were assigned a public defender.

Bailey and Green (pictured), both 20 and of Indianapolis, were arrested on Tuesday and charged Wednesday with murder and neglect in the girl's death. Green was also charged with battery.

Charity Bailey stayed silent and hung her head as she walked into court Friday, but Green commented.

"I'm not the one who whipped her," Green said, but he declined to say who did.

Police said they and paramedics were called to Bailey's apartment on the city's northeast side Tuesday morning after TaJanay stopped breathing. The girl was pronounced dead at a hospital 30 minutes later.

Indianapolis police alleged Green used to hang TaJanay on a closet coat hook as punishment for wetting herself, and that TaJanay had been repeatedly beaten before her death.

Investigators believe Bailey kneed TaJanay in the head, and that the girl was punched in the chest and whipped with a belt, Marion County Prosecutor Carl Brizzi said earlier this week.

Prosecutors planned to seek life sentences without the possibility of parole for Bailey, who is pregnant, and Green.

"With the state of the death penalty, the difficulty obtaining a conviction, the possibility of reversal, this is really the better choice," Brizzi said Friday.

Brizzi previously said that he would seek a court order to put Bailey's unborn child into state custody when it is born. Bailey's 6-month-old son was put into state custody Tuesday.

TaJanay had been in foster care for most of her life, but the state returned her and her brother to their biological mother on Oct. 31, 6News reported.

The Indiana Department of Child Services on Wednesday said it would investigate its handling of the case.

Outside the courtroom Friday, Adrian Springfield, TaJanay's former foster parent, said he wanted to see that justice is served.

"I'm just going to make sure that they get this right this time because it is terrible," Springfield said. "The system -- somebody failed her."

Brizzi, speaking to reporters after Thursday's hearing, said foster parents of other children have contacted his office to complain that the state Department of Child Services is failing to properly protect youngsters. He said he believes the agency failed TaJanay and that foster parents and state caseworkers would be interviewed to find out why.

Bailey and Green were held in the Marion County Jail without opportunity for bail.