ROCKLAND – A woman who allegedly hit her 7-year-old daughter on the head with a 5-pound cast-iron frying pan Feb. 20 pleaded not guilty Friday to attempted murder by reason of mental disease or defect.

Natalie C. Hall, 34, of Union is charged with one count of attempted murder and two counts of aggravated assault.

Defense attorney Steven Peterson previously had motions granted for a full psychiatric examination. Court records indicated the results were not available Friday, but that Hall entered not guilty pleas to the charges because of mental disease or defect.

Peterson could not be reached for comment Friday.

On Feb. 20, Hall called police to report she had just hit her 7-year-old daughter on the head “with a hard object and didn’t know why,” according to a police affidavit.

After the assault, the victim was taken to Penobscot Bay Medical Center for swelling and bruising on her head, according to a police report, which noted the injury did not cause bleeding.

When a Knox County sheriff’s deputy interviewed Hall, she told him her daughters had done nothing wrong and that she was a bad mother.

During questioning, Hall told the deputy she has been diagnosed as being “bipolar” and had not taken her medication for a month.

Hall wanted to end the victim’s life, as well as her own life and her eldest daughter’s, the deputy reported.

“She said that the girls are beyond repair and that there was no way to fix it,” the report states.

When asked by the deputy if she meant to kill the victim, Hall said, “Yup, it crossed my mind,” according to the affidavit.

At the time of the assault, the 7-year-old was trying to get some dolls out of a “treasure chest” in her bedroom when “I think she whacked me with a pan,” the child told the deputy.

The child identified a 9-inch-diameter cast-iron frying pan, weighing 5 pounds, according to court records.

Justice S. Kirk Studstrup presided over Friday’s arraignment.

Hall, who is being held on $500,000 cash or $1 million surety bail, requested another bail hearing, but a court date has not been scheduled. She is being held at Knox County Jail.

Conditions of bail include no contact with the victim or Hall’s 9-year-old daughter, no use or possession of alcohol or drugs, and a requirement to submit to random search and testing for substances.