In a booming voice, Hilton told Judge Tommy Wilson he wished to contest the validity of his Florida charges and demanded a court-appointed attorney to help him fight extradition, The Herald-Gazette newspaper of Barnesville reported.

Wilson gave him 20 days to file a habeas petition to challenge the Florida arrest. The judge denied the request for court-appointed counsel because habeas is a civil action and the state is not required to appoint counsel in a civil action.

Hilton pleaded guilty to the murder of Emerson whose decapitated body was found Jan. 7.

Hilton was clothed in a standard white prison coveralls with blue trim and was shackled at the wrists and ankles. He wore a large wrap on his arm containing an electronic inmate control device.

A Department of Corrections tactical officer hovered nearby, handling the remote for the unit which could have shocked Hilton had he misbehaved in court.

Hilton is being held at the Georgia Diagnostic and Classification Prison in Butts County.

Besides murder, he also faces charges in Florida of kidnapping, grand theft auto and grand theft.

Hilton is wanted in Florida in the death of Cheryl Hodges Dunlap, who was found in December in a national forest in Florida, said State Attorney Willie Meggs.

Emerson was kidnapped while she was taking a New Year's Day hike in the north Georgia mountains with her dog, Ella, authorities say.

Investigators in North Carolina have also linked Hilton to the slaying of 84-year-old Irene Bryant and disappearance of her 80-year-old husband, John Bryant.

(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)