OROVILLE -- A Chico State University student pleaded innocent in court Monday to murder charges in the alleged strangulation of her newborn son.

Gina Rose Grinsell, 20, remains in custody on $1 million bail pending a preliminary hearing to decide if there is sufficient evidence to take the case to trial.

Grinsell's Chico attorney, Dennis Latimer, sought unsuccessfully to cut her bail in half, arguing the Chico State sophomore would not pose a risk to the public if free while awaiting trial.

District Attorney Mike Ramsey said he was concerned Grinsell might not show up for future court hearings if her bail were lowered.

For the first time since their daughter was arrested, Grinsell's parents broke their silence Monday.

Reading from a prepared statement outside court, the Bay Area couple said though they're still "mourning the loss of our grandchild," they wanted to publicly thank the Chico community for its "outpouring of support and understanding."

"Anyone who knows Gina knows that she is a kind and gentle person who would never intentionally harm anyone," said Alfred Grinsell, the Chico student's father.

Grinsell is accused of concealing her pregnancy from family and friends and manually strangling her newborn son minutes after giving birth alone in her bedroom at the Kappa Sigma Delta sorority house in Chico nearly two weeks ago.

The defense has retained its own expert to examine, if not challenge, medical findings in the case.

According to Ramsey, the defense doctor met with the county pathologist to go over the preliminary autopsy findings and examine the infant's body at a Chico funeral home Thursday.

Grinsell's attorney had told reporters earlier it appeared she had lost a lot of blood and was in shock at the time of the baby's death.

Ramsey disputed that Monday, contending the medical evidence in the case indicated the Chico mother suffered no more shock than would be expected "during any normal birth or delivery."

The district attorney also told reporters Monday that investigators now believe they know the name of the deceased baby's father and are attempting to contact him.

Ramsey would not elaborate, other than to say the suspected father does not live in this area.

Clutching stuffed animals and wearing yellow and black ribbons to show support for both the mother and her deceased baby, several of the defendant's sorority sisters wept when Grinsell was brought shackled into court Monday.

Her eyes brimming with tears, the young woman acknowledged her friends in court with a nod of her head but said nothing during the brief hearing.

Grinsell's attorney entered the innocent plea on her behalf to charges of murder and assault on a child causing death, both felonies that could carry life sentences upon conviction.

The defense attorney said he was not prepared to go forward with a preliminary hearing to test the sufficiency of the evidence until he can examine the police and autopsy reports.

Superior Court Judge Robert Glusman has agreed to recall the case in two weeks to set a preliminary hearing date.

In urging the judge in the meantime to reduce Grinsell's bail to $500,000, Latimer pointed out that unlike many murder suspects, the Chico State student has no prior record of any sort and has a large support system locally.

"She poses no threat to the public," the defense attorney said.

To avoid "tainting" potential jurors in the case, the district attorney requested a private bench-conference to argue against lowering Grinsell's bail.

Without elaborating, Ramsey later told reporters he had outlined to the judge why he feared the Chico State student would not show up in court if she were released on a lesser bail.

Though Glusman said he is unable to make the "findings necessary" to reduce bail at this time, he invited Grinsell's attorney to submit a written motion detailing where and under what conditions she would reside if such a pre-trial bail reduction were granted.