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FAYETTEVILLE — The two people accused in the 2009 slaying of 5-year-old Shaniya Davis pleaded not guilty to charges in separate appearances in Superior Court on Thursday.

Mario Andrette McNeil, 31, and Shaniya's mother, Antoniette Davis, 27, are each charged with first-degree murder, first-degree rape of a child, child abuse, human trafficking and sexual servitude.

Davis is accused of giving her daughter to McNeil as payment for a drug debt, authorities said.

McNeil is accused of raping and strangling Shaniya and dumping her body in woods off Walker Road near the Carolina Trace community.

No action was taken at the arraignment hearings other than having the pleas formally entered.

A trial date is scheduled to be set during the April session of Superior Court.

McNeil, flanked by his lawyers, Harold "Butch" Pope of Whiteville and Terry Alford of Spring Hope, was the first to appear before Judge Jim Ammons.

McNeil, clad in a jail-issued, orange jumpsuit, appeared to have a slight smile on his face as he answered Ammons' questions in a near whisper.

When asked by Ammons if he was aware he could be sentenced to death on the charge, McNeil nodded his head to indicate yes.

McNeil, a slightly built man, was ushered out of the courtroom by bailiffs.

Davis, who is represented by Fayetteville lawyer D.W. Bray, sat through other proceedings for several minutes before her case was called.

Davis wore drab-brown jail pants and a matching top with an orange shirt underneath and jail-issued flip-flops.

She stood beside Bray with her hands behind her back, her right hand clasping her left forearm.

Davis had shackles around her ankles.

Prosecutor Billy West has said he will not seek the death penalty for Davis.

The U.S. Constitution's Eighth Amendment says that defendants in felony murder cases cannot be sentenced to death if they did not kill, try to kill or intend to kill anyone.

West has said there is no indication that Davis intended for her daughter to die.

It was 6:53 a.m. on Nov. 10, 2009, when Davis, then living in a mobile home park off Murchison Road, called police and reported her daughter missing.

Authorities later learned that Davis sent Shaniya with McNeil at 5:47 a.m. At 6:11 a.m., he and the child checked into a Sanford hotel.

McNeil and the girl left the hotel about 7:30 a.m.

The state medical examiner ruled that Shaniya died of asphyxiation.

Rescue workers and volunteers searched for a week before Shaniya's body was found Nov. 16, 2009, near the Harnett-Lee county line.