Mother accused of cooking baby to death.
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an update to this case.....
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,327385,00.html
Witness: Ohio Mom on Trial Said Baby 'Fit Right In' Microwave
Thursday, January 31, 2008
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AP
Jan. 28: China Arnold sits in a Montgomery County courtroom during a break in jury selection.
Jan. 28: China Arnold sits in a Montgomery County courtroom during a break in jury selection.
DAYTON, Ohio — A woman who shared a jail cell with a mother accused of killing her baby by burning her in a microwave oven told a jury Thursday that the mom confessed to the crime, saying the month-old girl "fit right in" the oven.
Linda Williams testified that she developed a sexual relationship with defendant China Arnold when the two were cellmates in the Montgomery County Jail in March and that Arnold confided in her about what happened to her baby.
She said Arnold feared her boyfriend believed he wasn't the father of the child and was going to leave her.
"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.
Sitting at the defense table, the 27-year-old Arnold showed little emotion as her trial got under way in the August 2005 death of Paris Talley at their Dayton home.
Under cross examination by defense attorney Jon Paul Rion, Williams acknowledged that she met with police investigators after the conversation and initially said Arnold told her she didn't know how the baby had died.
RelatedStories
Potential Jurors Questioned in Case of Ohio Mother Accused of Microwaving Month-Old Baby Jury Selection to Begin for Ohio Mother Accused of Microwaving Month-Old Baby Williams, who has since been released from jail, said she didn't tell investigators about Arnold's confession earlier because she had feelings for the mother.
"The evidence is going to show that she did not purposely take the life of her own baby," Rion said in his opening statement.
Rion said other people had access to the baby, Arnold was intoxicated to the point of blacking out when the child died and people questioned about the case changed their stories. Rion also raised questions about the reliability of the science when it comes to determining the effect of microwaves on humans.
Russell Uptegrove, a forensic pathologist with the Montgomery County coroner's office, said the thermal burns on the baby were different from those that would have been suffered in a fire, an electrical shock or by hot water, an iron or with chemicals. He said it took him awhile to consider that the burns may have come from a microwave oven.
"It was so heinous to think of that, that I couldn't convince myself it was a real possibility," Uptegrove said.
He said DNA recovered from the ceiling of the oven matched that of the baby.
During the opening statement by Assistant Montgomery County Prosecutor Daniel Brandt, a photo of the burned baby was flashed on a screen for the 12-member jury to see. Arnold sat quietly, occasionally jotting notes on a yellow legal pad.
Brandt said Arnold killed the child after arguing with her boyfriend over whether they had been faithful to each other.
When the couple brought the baby to the hospital, Brandt said, Arnold exclaimed: "'I killed my baby. I killed my baby."'
Brandt said Arnold later told police it never would have happened had she not gotten so drunk. He said Arnold, who has been in jail since she was charged in November 2006, told Williams she had killed the baby in the microwave and other inmates that she hadn't meant to do it.
Rion said Arnold, who has three sons, loved having a daughter and quit college and her job so she could stay home and take care of her. Rion said Arnold's boyfriend was the father of the child, and it couldn't have been anyone else.
During a pretrial hearing on Jan. 11, defense witness Robert Belloto, a staff pharmacist at Good Samaritan Hospital in Dayton, testified that he doesn't believe it would have been possible for Arnold to place the baby in the microwave because the woman was so drunk.
Belloto said Arnold told him she had consumed about 40 percent of a pint of high-proof rum in 90 minutes. But he acknowledged that he had no corroboration for her claim.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,327385,00.html
Witness: Ohio Mom on Trial Said Baby 'Fit Right In' Microwave
Thursday, January 31, 2008
E-Mail Print Share:
AP
Jan. 28: China Arnold sits in a Montgomery County courtroom during a break in jury selection.
Jan. 28: China Arnold sits in a Montgomery County courtroom during a break in jury selection.
DAYTON, Ohio — A woman who shared a jail cell with a mother accused of killing her baby by burning her in a microwave oven told a jury Thursday that the mom confessed to the crime, saying the month-old girl "fit right in" the oven.
Linda Williams testified that she developed a sexual relationship with defendant China Arnold when the two were cellmates in the Montgomery County Jail in March and that Arnold confided in her about what happened to her baby.
She said Arnold feared her boyfriend believed he wasn't the father of the child and was going to leave her.
"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.
Sitting at the defense table, the 27-year-old Arnold showed little emotion as her trial got under way in the August 2005 death of Paris Talley at their Dayton home.
Under cross examination by defense attorney Jon Paul Rion, Williams acknowledged that she met with police investigators after the conversation and initially said Arnold told her she didn't know how the baby had died.
RelatedStories
Potential Jurors Questioned in Case of Ohio Mother Accused of Microwaving Month-Old Baby Jury Selection to Begin for Ohio Mother Accused of Microwaving Month-Old Baby Williams, who has since been released from jail, said she didn't tell investigators about Arnold's confession earlier because she had feelings for the mother.
"The evidence is going to show that she did not purposely take the life of her own baby," Rion said in his opening statement.
Rion said other people had access to the baby, Arnold was intoxicated to the point of blacking out when the child died and people questioned about the case changed their stories. Rion also raised questions about the reliability of the science when it comes to determining the effect of microwaves on humans.
Russell Uptegrove, a forensic pathologist with the Montgomery County coroner's office, said the thermal burns on the baby were different from those that would have been suffered in a fire, an electrical shock or by hot water, an iron or with chemicals. He said it took him awhile to consider that the burns may have come from a microwave oven.
"It was so heinous to think of that, that I couldn't convince myself it was a real possibility," Uptegrove said.
He said DNA recovered from the ceiling of the oven matched that of the baby.
During the opening statement by Assistant Montgomery County Prosecutor Daniel Brandt, a photo of the burned baby was flashed on a screen for the 12-member jury to see. Arnold sat quietly, occasionally jotting notes on a yellow legal pad.
Brandt said Arnold killed the child after arguing with her boyfriend over whether they had been faithful to each other.
When the couple brought the baby to the hospital, Brandt said, Arnold exclaimed: "'I killed my baby. I killed my baby."'
Brandt said Arnold later told police it never would have happened had she not gotten so drunk. He said Arnold, who has been in jail since she was charged in November 2006, told Williams she had killed the baby in the microwave and other inmates that she hadn't meant to do it.
Rion said Arnold, who has three sons, loved having a daughter and quit college and her job so she could stay home and take care of her. Rion said Arnold's boyfriend was the father of the child, and it couldn't have been anyone else.
During a pretrial hearing on Jan. 11, defense witness Robert Belloto, a staff pharmacist at Good Samaritan Hospital in Dayton, testified that he doesn't believe it would have been possible for Arnold to place the baby in the microwave because the woman was so drunk.
Belloto said Arnold told him she had consumed about 40 percent of a pint of high-proof rum in 90 minutes. But he acknowledged that he had no corroboration for her claim.
http://www.daytondailynews.com/news/crime/jurors-find-mom-guilty-of-killing-baby-in-microwave-oven-1159761.html
DAYTON — Jurors today convicted a mother accused of killing her baby in a microwave oven, her third trial on the charges.
China Arnold, 31, was convicted of aggravated murder in the death of 28-day-old Paris Talley on Aug. 30, 2005, at her home at 415 Hall Ave. in the since-demolished Parkside Homes public housing complex. Arnold, who cried when the verdict was read, could face the death penalty.
The sentencing phase of the trial begins Monday.
The jury of 11 women and one man received the case about 4:30 p.m. Thursday, then deliberated until 8 p.m. before breaking for the night. The jury resumed deliberations about 8:30 p.m. Friday and arrived at the verdict just after 11 a.m.
Crystal McGhee, Arnold’s aunt, said that she did not believe Arnold could get a fair trial in Dayton due to pre-trial publicity.
“She was a good mother,” McGhee said. “I watched her raise her children.”
Bishop Richard Cox, the president of the Dayton chapter of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, attended the trial daily.
“We still believe she is innocent,” Cox said. “She needs to be set free.”
The closing arguments and the jury instructions given by Montgomery County Common Pleas Judge Mary Wiseman took up nearly all of Thursday afternoon.
“Baby Paris is without life, but she’s not without a voice,” assistant county prosecutor Dan Brandt told the jury during his closing argument. “Please listen to her.”
Brandt said that Arnold’s actions were “even more purposeful” than a slaying with a gun or a knife. Arnold had to carry the baby over, place her in the microwave, shut the door, then press buttons. Then she waited while her child cooked to death, Brandt said.
“If that’s not purposeful, what is?” Brandt asked.
Arnold admitted to police that the baby woke her up about 2:30 a.m., Brandt said. She also told police that she was alone, beside her other children, who were asleep upstairs, Brandt said. There were no signs of a break-in, Brandt said.
“She eliminated everyone else,” Brandt said.
Defense attorney Jon Paul Rion attacked the case and said that the evidence pointed as much to Terrell Talley, the baby’s father, as it did Arnold.
“This doesn’t make sense to you,” Rion said. “It doesn’t. I’ve been watching your faces.”
He said the prosecutor cut and fit evidence to show “this loving mother somehow was so evil that she killed her baby in this way.”
Rion said that testimony from Talley that Arnold said “I killed my baby” left out crucial context that she meant she failed as a mother by allowing the crime to happen, not that she did it herself. His voice breaking, Rion noted that several of the women on the jury were mothers and asked “wouldn’t you feel personally responsible?”
He also said that testimony about the key used to lock Arnold in the house alone with her children was a fiction.
“This key story is an alibi,” Rion said. “It was created six months later.”
Rion also said that Arnold was very intoxicated, having drank half of a bottle of Bacardi 151 Rum.
“No mother is going to do this, in this way,” Rion said. “China Arnold is innocent of these charges.”
Assistant county Prosecutor David Franceschelli then gave the final closing argument, ridiculing Arnold as “the mother of the year.”
Franceschelli said that there was no testimony that the matter on the shoes was a bodily substance, nor was there any evidence presented as to the exact amounts of rum Arnold drank. He also said that three other witnesses corroborated Terrell Talley’s account of giving a key to his sister to check on Arnold and the baby, then lock the door.
“Everyone’s lying except the defendant,” Franceschelli said. “That’s what you have to believe. Everybody’s lying but her, and she couldn’t tell the same story twice.”
The trial opened April 25, but jury selection took six and half days, much of it dealing with death penalty attitudes, the effects of pre-trial publicity and availability for a four-week trial.
The first trial ended in February 2008 in a mistrial after the boy came forward - after the defense had rested - and said he saw another child put the baby in the oven. The boy was 5 in August 2005.
Arnold was convicted of all charges in September 2008 and sentenced to life without parole. The Ohio Second District Court of Appeals reversed that conviction in November, focusing on issues surrounding Williams’ testimony.
DAYTON — Jurors today convicted a mother accused of killing her baby in a microwave oven, her third trial on the charges.
China Arnold, 31, was convicted of aggravated murder in the death of 28-day-old Paris Talley on Aug. 30, 2005, at her home at 415 Hall Ave. in the since-demolished Parkside Homes public housing complex. Arnold, who cried when the verdict was read, could face the death penalty.
The sentencing phase of the trial begins Monday.
The jury of 11 women and one man received the case about 4:30 p.m. Thursday, then deliberated until 8 p.m. before breaking for the night. The jury resumed deliberations about 8:30 p.m. Friday and arrived at the verdict just after 11 a.m.
Crystal McGhee, Arnold’s aunt, said that she did not believe Arnold could get a fair trial in Dayton due to pre-trial publicity.
“She was a good mother,” McGhee said. “I watched her raise her children.”
Bishop Richard Cox, the president of the Dayton chapter of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, attended the trial daily.
“We still believe she is innocent,” Cox said. “She needs to be set free.”
The closing arguments and the jury instructions given by Montgomery County Common Pleas Judge Mary Wiseman took up nearly all of Thursday afternoon.
“Baby Paris is without life, but she’s not without a voice,” assistant county prosecutor Dan Brandt told the jury during his closing argument. “Please listen to her.”
Brandt said that Arnold’s actions were “even more purposeful” than a slaying with a gun or a knife. Arnold had to carry the baby over, place her in the microwave, shut the door, then press buttons. Then she waited while her child cooked to death, Brandt said.
“If that’s not purposeful, what is?” Brandt asked.
Arnold admitted to police that the baby woke her up about 2:30 a.m., Brandt said. She also told police that she was alone, beside her other children, who were asleep upstairs, Brandt said. There were no signs of a break-in, Brandt said.
“She eliminated everyone else,” Brandt said.
Defense attorney Jon Paul Rion attacked the case and said that the evidence pointed as much to Terrell Talley, the baby’s father, as it did Arnold.
“This doesn’t make sense to you,” Rion said. “It doesn’t. I’ve been watching your faces.”
He said the prosecutor cut and fit evidence to show “this loving mother somehow was so evil that she killed her baby in this way.”
Rion said that testimony from Talley that Arnold said “I killed my baby” left out crucial context that she meant she failed as a mother by allowing the crime to happen, not that she did it herself. His voice breaking, Rion noted that several of the women on the jury were mothers and asked “wouldn’t you feel personally responsible?”
He also said that testimony about the key used to lock Arnold in the house alone with her children was a fiction.
“This key story is an alibi,” Rion said. “It was created six months later.”
Rion also said that Arnold was very intoxicated, having drank half of a bottle of Bacardi 151 Rum.
“No mother is going to do this, in this way,” Rion said. “China Arnold is innocent of these charges.”
Assistant county Prosecutor David Franceschelli then gave the final closing argument, ridiculing Arnold as “the mother of the year.”
Franceschelli said that there was no testimony that the matter on the shoes was a bodily substance, nor was there any evidence presented as to the exact amounts of rum Arnold drank. He also said that three other witnesses corroborated Terrell Talley’s account of giving a key to his sister to check on Arnold and the baby, then lock the door.
“Everyone’s lying except the defendant,” Franceschelli said. “That’s what you have to believe. Everybody’s lying but her, and she couldn’t tell the same story twice.”
The trial opened April 25, but jury selection took six and half days, much of it dealing with death penalty attitudes, the effects of pre-trial publicity and availability for a four-week trial.
The first trial ended in February 2008 in a mistrial after the boy came forward - after the defense had rested - and said he saw another child put the baby in the oven. The boy was 5 in August 2005.
Arnold was convicted of all charges in September 2008 and sentenced to life without parole. The Ohio Second District Court of Appeals reversed that conviction in November, focusing on issues surrounding Williams’ testimony.
