NEW CASTLE, Ind. -- A Henry County judge on Tuesday rejected a plea deal in the death of a 3-year-old girl who police said was beaten to death by her mother's boyfriend.

Jeremiah Hoots, 31, was originally charged with felony battery in the December 2007 death of the daughter of his then-girlfriend, Krystal Pollitt, 3-year-old Kaitlynne Jennings, 6News' Derrik Thomas reported.

The crime carries a maximum sentence of 50 years in prison, but in October, Hoots was offered a plea deal of 12 years in prison with six suspended, two years suspended on probation and one of those years on home detention.

At what was supposed to be his guilty plea hearing on Tuesday, Judge Mary Willis rejected the plea deal and set a jury trial for February.

Pollitt's family had been trying to get the deal overturned since it was announced.

"She's probably proud and happy we're fighting for her," Pollitt said of her daughter after learning the deal had been rejected.

Hoots' attorneys maintain that the girl died after she was pushed off a five-foot-tall bunk bed by one of her brothers, even though an autopsy showed that she suffered two skull fractures, bleeding in the brain and a broken neck.

They said prosecutors are just looking for someone to blame.

"We no longer have accidents. It doesn't matter if someone is 89 years old and dies in a nursing home. The doctor was incompetent," said attorney Mick Alexander. "Someone has to be the blame any more ever since Jerry Springer got on TV."

Pollitt was charged with felony neglect of a dependent in the death

A pretrial hearing was set for Hoots on Jan. 7.