Ohio Mom Gets Life For Killing Baby in Microwave
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Ohio mom gets life for killing baby in microwave
By JAMES HANNAH, Associated Press Writer 49 minutes ago
DAYTON, Ohio - A woman was sentenced Monday to life in prison without the chance for parole for burning her baby daughter to death in a microwave after fighting with her boyfriend. Common Pleas Judge Mary Wiseman lashed out at 28-year-old China Arnold, who opted to watch her sentencing from a side room on a monitor.
"No adjectives exist to adequately describe this heinous atrocity," Wiseman said. "This act is shocking and utterly abhorrent for a civilized society."
The judge rejected a plea by Arnold's attorneys for a minimum sentence of life in prison with the chance of parole after 25 years. A jury last week spared Arnold the death penalty when it couldn't reach a consensus.
"I am innocent of these charges," Arnold said in a statement read by her attorney, Jon Paul Rion.
Arnold was convicted Aug. 29 of aggravated murder in the death of month-old Paris Talley in 2005. Prosecutors said she intentionally put her baby in the microwave after a fight with her boyfriend. The couple had argued over whether the boyfriend was the biological father.
It was Arnold's second trial. Her first ended in a mistrial when new witnesses surfaced.
Rion has asked for a third trial, saying a former cellmate who said Arnold confessed has now changed her story. Rion said he's also found additional witnesses who point to someone else being responsible for killing the baby.
The judge hasn't ruled on the motion for a new trial.
Rion said Arnold loved her baby "with all of her heart and more" and regrets drinking the night of her baby's death to the point of not remembering what happened.
"We have a mother who has lost her own daughter," Rion said. "That will plague her and follow her like a shadow for the rest of her life and into the next."
Prosecutor David Franceschelli told Wiseman that Arnold has shown no genuine remorse.
"The only remorse here is she got caught," Franceschelli said.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080908/...eath_microwave
That poor baby. :( How could any one be so callous. :(
Oh, boy...one witness can really screw things up...
http://ukpress.google.com/article/AL...E1NfC1kxrli9dQ
New trial sought in baby death case
Sep 2, 2008
Lawyers for an Ohio woman convicted of microwaving her baby daughter have asked for a new trial because a former cellmate who claimed she confessed to the killing had changed her story.
Jon Paul Rion said Linda Williams, who testified during China Arnold's first trial earlier this year, contacted him and told him she was "ready to tell the truth".
"I have interviewed Linda Williams this day and the statements made during that interview are in total and complete contradiction to the testimony given at the previous trial," Mr Rion wrote in an affidavit.
Last Friday a retrial jury in Dayton found Arnold guilty of aggravated murder and will begin deciding whether she should receive the death penalty.
During Arnold's first trial, Williams said she had a sexual relationship with Arnold when the two shared a prison cell in March 2007 and that Arnold told her about killing the baby in the microwave because her boyfriend believed he was not the child's father.
The judge later declared a mistrial, Arnold was retried, and, although Williams did not give evidence a second time, a video of her previous testimony was played in court.
Arnold feared her boyfriend was going to leave her, Williams said at the first trial.
"She said she put the baby into the microwave and started it and left the house," Williams said.
Williams said she asked Arnold how she got the child into the oven. "She said she fit right in," Williams said.
The judge has not ruled on Mr Rion's motion.
http://www.daytondailynews.com/n/con...8chinaweb.html
Convicted mom China Arnold seeks new trial
By Lou Grieco
Staff Writer
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
DAYTON — Montgomery County prosecutors are opposing a motion from convicted killer China Arnold asking for a new trial.
The memo from the prosecutors filed Monday, Sept. 22, states that the evidence cited by Arnold's defense team is not new and not credible, and that her team's allegations of prosecutorial misconduct are "completely unfounded and baseless."
Arnold, 28, was convicted last month of aggravated murder in the August 2005 death of her 28-day-old daughter, Paris Talley, in a microwave oven.
Judge Mary Wiseman of Montgomery County Common Pleas Court sentenced Arnold on Sept. 8 to life without parole.
Wiseman has not scheduled a date to hear Arnold's motion.
Her attorneys claim that Linda Williams, who testified during Arnold's first trial, now says she lied under oath and was assaulted by an investigator with the Montgomery County Prosecutor's Office.
Williams claimed to have had a sexual relationship with Arnold while in the county jail, and said Arnold admitted killing her baby in a microwave oven.
Williams did not testify in the second trial, but a videotape of her prior testimony was played for jurors.
The prosecutor's memo states that the investigator Williams accused was not in the county on the date Williams said the assault occurred.
