Mother gets life in microwave death

May 21, 2011|Associated Press

China Arnold was convicted last week of killing her 28-day-old daughter… (Dayton Daily News via AP )

DAYTON, Ohio — An Ohio woman convicted of killing her month-old baby daughter in a microwave oven was spared the death penalty and sentenced yesterday to life in prison without parole.

Montgomery County Common Pleas Judge Mary Wiseman sentenced China Arnold of Dayton, 31, who psychologists testified showed no signs of serious mental illness.

Arnold was convicted last week of aggravated murder by the same jury that recommended her punishment. Jurors deliberated about six hours Thursday and yesterday.

Prosecutors said Arnold intentionally put 28-day-old Paris Talley in a microwave and turned it on after a fight with her boyfriend. The couple had argued over whether he was the infant’s biological father.

Defense attorney Jon Paul Rion argued that the evidence pointed as much to the boyfriend as it did to the child’s mother, who Rion said was drunk at the time.

Medical experts testified that the baby died quickly after her temperature reached between 107 to 108 degrees Fahrenheit. They said she probably was in the microwave for more than two minutes.