Public defenders appointed in grisly Memphis case

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) - Public defenders have been appointed for a Memphis man charged with strangling his girlfriend and then forcing their 12-year-old daughter to help him dismember and dispose of the body.

James Hawkins, 31, was arraigned Tuesday in the death of Charlene Gaither. He is charged with first-degree murder, filing a false offense report and abuse of a corpse.

Police say the woman was strangled in Feb. 9 in their apartment and that Hawkins reported her missing three days later.

In a hearing in May, the couple's daughter testified that she was threatened with death by Hawkins if she did not help him cut the body apart with a circular saw.

She said her father also forced her to help him take her mother's bagged body parts and dispose of them in DeSoto County, Miss.

Hawkins remains jailed on $2 million bond.