Woman Pleads Not Guilty in Dismemberment Case : Courts: Defendant’s preliminary hearing is set for April 10. Prosecutors are not seeking the death penalty.

A Costa Mesa woman accused of stabbing her common-law husband to death and stuffing his body parts into trash bags pleaded not guilty Friday to a charge of murder.

Omaima Aree Nelson, 23, who also goes by the name of Omayma Aref Stainbrook, was arrested Dec. 2 in connection with the grisly murder of William E. Nelson, 56, with whom she had lived in Costa Mesa.

Nelson, an Egyptian who immigrated to this country in 1986, also pleaded not guilty Friday to charges of assault with a weapon, false imprisonment and attempted robbery in connection with a November, 1990, incident involving Robert Hanson of Huntington Beach. The complaint charges that Nelson attacked Hanson with a gun but gives no further details.

Nelson remains in custody at Orange County Jail without bail and is scheduled to return to Municipal Court in Newport Beach April 10 for a preliminary hearing.

If convicted, Nelson will face a sentence of at least 25 years to life in prison. Prosecutors say they do not plan to file a special circumstance, a charge that could result in a sentence of death against Nelson.

Deputy Public Defender Thomas G. Mooney maintained that, despite the gory details of Nelson’s dismemberment, his client is innocent. “We deny all the allegations,” Mooney told Municipal Court Judge Susanne S. Shaw.

“I still believe she’s not guilty of murder. I don’t believe she’s guilty of any of the other charges, and our investigation is continuing,” he said later in an interview. He declined further comment on the details of the case.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Randolph Pawloski, who is prosecuting the case, declined to comment.

Police say Omaima Nelson killed and dismembered William Nelson at their apartment on Elden Avenue. She then allegedly placed some of his remains in trash bags and brought them to a friend’s house on Monte Vista Avenue and offered him $75,000 to help dispose of the parts.

Authorities have offered no motive for the macabre killing.

Still uncertain are details of the relationship between Omaima and William Nelson. At the time of his death, William Nelson was married to a Santa Maria woman and was in the process of getting a divorce. Mooney, however, believes Omaima Nelson’s claim that the two had married days before the victim’s death.