NEW ALBANY — Ivan E. Chambers was charged Monday in Floyd County Circuit Court with the murder of his girlfriend, Amanda Rose “Mandy” McAnelly, 23, who died from two gunshot wounds to the head.

Chambers, 27, was arrested by New Albany Police Department officers shortly after McAnelly, a 2007 New Albany High School graduate, was killed about 9:20 p.m. at the home in Plaza Square Apartments at 3213 Plaza Drive.

During the Monday hearing, presiding Circuit Court Judge Terrence Cody accepted Chambers’ plea of not guilty.

Chambers, a 2003 New Albany High School graduate, will be represented by a public defender for the trial, slated for Nov. 27, where he could be sentenced from 45 to 65 years at the Indiana Department of Correction.

Following the request of Floyd County Chief Deputy Prosecutor Steven L. Owen, Cody granted no bond for Chambers leading to the trial date.

Chambers and McAnelly had a young daughter together, who officials say was in the home at the time of the shooting.

Owen described the couple’s relationship as on-again, off-again, and that the home they had once shared may not have been where McAnelly was living at the time of her death.

Dressed in a Floyd County Jail-issued, blue-and-gray striped uniform, Chambers appeared in the courtroom for the initial hearing Monday afternoon. Chambers leaned back in his chair and gazed through black-framed glasses before Cody ordered him to stand before the court. While Chambers has admitted to police that he used a firearm to kill McAnelly, he is claiming innocence in his girlfriend’s death.

“The battle will be if there was justification for Chambers’ actions,” said Owen.

According to the probable-cause affidavit written by NAPD Detective Greg Crabtree, officer Ryan Durham went to the Plaza Drive apartment on a domestic disturbance call. Before arriving, Durham was informed that a firearm may be involved in the dispute.

At the home, Durham found Chambers holding the couple’s child and asked him if the weapon was secure.

According to the affidavit, Chambers responded, “No, I shot her with it. She attacked me.”

The affidavit continues, “Officer Durham asked Chambers how badly [McAnelly] was injured and Chambers advised that she is probably dead.”

After entering the apartment, Durham found McAnelly’s body lying on the floor of the child’s bedroom and a handgun nearby. Also at the home when Durham arrived was McAnelly’s mother, Tonya McAnelly, who told the officer that her daughter had called her moments earlier and told her to call police, that Chambers would not give her the child and that she did not feel able to leave the apartment at her own will.

Tonya McAnelly also told police that when she arrived at the house, she met Chambers and the child. When she took the child, according to statements in the affidavit, the child said, “Mommy is sick. Daddy’s shot mommy.”

Later in the investigation, according to the affidavit, Crabtree interviewed Chambers’ mother, Luvenia Chambers, who said that she had received a phone call from her son and he told her that he had shot McAnelly.

A pretrial conference has been scheduled for Sept. 11.

Funeral services for McAnelly are scheduled for 11 a.m. Wednesday at Newcomer Funeral Home in New Albany. To read her obituary, visit newsandtribune.com.