Mother accused of microwaving baby goes on trial in US
A mother accused of killing her month-old baby by microwaving it goes on trial in the US today.
The first day of the case against China Arnold will be spent on legal arguments and selecting a jury.
Arnold ,27, claims she had nothing to do with her daughter’s death in 2005 and has pleaded not guilty to aggravated murder. If convicted, she could face the death penalty.
Police believe Arnold killed her daughter Paris Talley while drunk by putting her in a microwave at her home in Montgomery County, Ohio.
Coroner’s officials have said the baby suffered high-heat internal injuries and had no external burns. They have ruled out scalding water, open flame or other possible causes of death that could have damaged the skin.
Defence lawyer Jon Paul Rion has said Arnold had nothing to do with her daughter’s death and was stunned when investigators told her that a microwave might have been involved. Arnold took the baby to the hospital after finding her unconscious and does not know how she died, he said.
During a pre-trial hearing in July, police Detective Michael Galbraith said Arnold told him she arrived home in the early morning hours after drinking, fell asleep and was woken at 2.30am by the baby’s crying.
She said she warmed a bottle in the microwave oven, tried to give it to the baby, changed the child’s diaper and then fell asleep on the couch with the baby on her chest.
Arnold said she and her children were the only ones in the apartment until her boyfriend arrived several hours later and noticed something was wrong with the baby.
Detective Galbraith said Arnold told him: “If I hadn’t gotten so drunk, I guess my baby wouldn’t have died.”
