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Farmington •After more than three years of delays, Nathan Sloop, the man accused of contributing to his stepson's death and disfiguring the boy's body after filing a false missing child report, will have his day in court.

Sloop, 34, will be tried on March 17 of next year for the 2010 death of his 4-year-old stepson Ethan Stacy.

He pleaded not guilty on Tuesday to felony counts of aggravated murder, intentionally inflicting serious injury on a child, obstructing justice and abuse or desecration of a human body.

Shackled and dressed in a county jail jumpsuit, Sloop slowly scanned the courtroom's gallery as he said his name aloud for the court record. When entering his plea to the charges, he loudly and emphatically pronounced each syllable of his words: "Not guilty."

Prosecutors, meanwhile, are arguing that Sloop should be eligible for the death penalty in Ethan's death. While Sloop's attorneys argue that Sloop never intended to kill the child, the Davis County Attorney's office has invoked Shelby's Law, which allows prosecutors to seek the death penalty without having to prove a killing was intentional when a child dies during an act of abuse. Sloop's attorney, Richard Mauro, has argued that Shelby's Law, a 2007 amendment to Utah's homicide statute, is unconstitutional.

"We'll continue to look at whether or not that law applies, whether its constitutional," Mauro told reporters after the hearing. "He shouldn't get the death penalty because he didn't commit an intentional killing."

Sloop's wife and Ethan's mother, Stephanie Sloop, 30, faces essentially the same charges in her son's death. A preliminary hearing in her case has been set for December.

Charging documents allege Sloop and his wife severely abused Ethan between April 29 and May 8 in 2010. The alleged abuse included "beatings, burning, drugging, isolating, malnourishing, leaving the child alone and unattended while suffering, and refusing to seek vital life-sustaining medical attention," according to court documents.

The couple allegedly left the injured boy by himself in a locked bedroom while they got married on May 6, 2010. After that, Ethan allegedly suffered second- and third-degree burns after being scalded with hot water, but the couple did not seek medical attention. The boy died sometime on Mother's Day, May 9, 2010.

After Ethan's death, the couple allegedly buried the boy's body in a shallow grave near Powder Mountain Ski Resort and reported him missing. On May 11, 2010, Sloop led police to Ethan's maimed body. Sloop allegedly told investigators that he tried to disfigure the boy's face and teeth so he would be harder to identify.

kbennion@sltrib.com

Twitter: @KimballBennion