NASHUA — Shawn Ganley, the father of a murdered 3-year-old boy whose death has not yet been solved, has withdrawn his intent to plead guilty to several unrelated drug charges.

Ganley's mother, who was in court Friday for her son, said her son is trying to improve his life and seeking out drug treatment.

“He wants to go to rehab. He said to me, ‘Ma, I need rehab. I need help,'” said Carol Ganley at Hillsborough County Superior Court.

On Friday, Ganley, 30, was expected to plead guilty to selling heroin, part of a negotiated plea deal with prosecutors that would have landed him in state prison for 4 to 8 years, with 1 ½ years suspended if Ganley entered the Delancy Street Foundation drug treatment program.

However, Ganley's attorney, Brianna Sinon, said the plea agreement terms were not feasible after learning the drug treatment program, housed in upstate New York, would not accept Ganley unless he had a relative living in New York.

Instead, he will go on trial in September on the two drug charges. Still, he faces other charges involving second-degree assault, attempted first-degree assault and criminal threatening for allegedly choking his former girlfriend and punching a man in the head while attempting to steal marijuana from him just four days after his son's death last year.

Ganley's son, Christian, was 3 years old when he died Feb. 20, 2011, of blunt force trauma. Police have ruled the boy's death a homicide, but no arrests have been made after more than a year. Details of the boy's injuries have not been released.

Carol Ganley said her son has been grieving by himself in jail, and often asks her to send photographs of his older daughter, who is 9.

“Right now, he is asking for help, and talks about how drug rehabilitation should be available in the New Hampshire jail system,” Carol Ganley said of her son.

Shawn Ganley, of 63 Chestnut St., has been held at the Valley Street Jail in Manchester since his arrest in April.

His mother has visited him once since his incarceration, but speaks with him on the phone weekly, she said, adding her son looks better than he did a year ago.

She said Shawn Ganley is committed to improving his life, getting help for his drug addiction, learning a trade and finding a good job.

When he does, Carol Ganley said, he will not return to Nashua.

“He says he is never coming to Nashua again because he would have to walk around and know that someone who killed his son is walking the street,” said the mother, adding he wouldn't be able to handle it.

Ganley shared custody of Christian with the boy's mother, Latoya Jackson, who told the New Hampshire Union Leader last month that she is frustrated that her child's homicide case has not been solved.

Carol Ganley is optimistic that police will resolve the homicide case, but she said she is frustrated that no arrests have been made in her grandson's murder.

“Sometimes I feel like screaming. I cry all of the time,” she added.