Double-slaying suspect gets Tenn. attorney

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) - A man accused of killing his parents in Arkansas last month was accused of stabbing a man in Tennessee two months earlier and had pleaded guilty to assaulting a woman with a knife in April, according to court records obtained Monday.

Antonio Whitlow, 33, made a brief court appearance Monday in General Sessions court in Memphis on an aggravated assault charge stemming from the May stabbing. He was arrested in Memphis for that crime on the same day his parents were found dead in their home in Little Rock, Ark.

The judge ordered that he be assigned a public defender before his next court hearing Aug. 20. Whitlow was being held in lieu of $50,000 bond.

Whitlow was with his 12-year-old sister when he was arrested on July 28, hours after his 65-year-old parents, Bobby and Annette Whitlow, were found dead. The girl didn't appear to be hurt.

Authorities expect Whitlow to be charged with murder in the Little Rock slayings, though that case didn't come up during Monday's hearing because Whitlow has to consult with an attorney before the case can move forward.

According to a police affidavit, Whitlow is accused of stabbing and wounding Anthony Banks with a butcher knife as Banks got off a Memphis city bus on May 11. Three days later, Banks went to Memphis police and identified Whitlow as the person who stabbed him, police said.

Whitlow was on probation at the time. He had been charged in March with aggravated assault after an altercation outside a group home in Memphis, where a witness said he saw Whitlow get into an argument with Banks, then go after group home caretaker Shirley King with a knife when she tried to break up the argument, according to a police affidavit obtained Monday from online court records.

Banks stopped Whitlow by hitting the knife out of his hand with a stick, the affidavit said. A witness told police that Whitlow was about 6 feet away from King when he was stopped.

Court records show that Whitlow pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of assault-bodily harm and was sentenced to 11 1/2 months in jail, with all but one month of that sentence suspended. He also was sentenced to 10 1/2 months of probation, three days of community service and anger management classes.

The community service and anger management class had not been completed before his arrest in late July, according to court records.

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