(AP) - An Alabama woman is under guard at a hospital Thursday after giving birth hours after her arrest in the death of her 9-year-old stepdaughter, who authorities say was forced to run for three hours as punishment for lying about eating a candy bar. He said he didn't know whether the newborn was a boy or a girl. Hardin and her mother-in-law, 46-year-old Joyce Hardin Garrard, were charged with murder on Wednesday in the death of Savannah Hardin. When emergency vehicles arrived at the home hours later, he said he thought they were there for the pregnant woman. The Birmingham News reports that Hardin has been appointed Morgan Cunningham as a public defender. Cunningham did not immediately return calls from The Associated Press. A defense attorney for Garrard said the woman has been falsely accused. "It is my belief Ms. Garrard will be vindicated ... and found not guilty of the allegation against her," attorney Dani Bone wrote in a statement. Even then, Joyce Garrard and her family will continue to grieve over the loss of their beloved Savannah. Department spokesman Barry Spear says the older child has been placed with a relative, and the plan is for the infant to be given to the same relative when it leaves the hospital. Speak said he could not reveal with whom the children were placed. The girl was taken to Children's Hospital in Birmingham where she was kept on life support while Robert Hardin, a contractor with the U.S. State Department, took eight flights to return to Alabama. "It must have been horrible," Harp said, "especially for what he saw when he got back." Robert Hardin made the decision to pull Savannah off life support, and she died on Monday.