Quick Facts
Biography
China Arnold (born March 29, 1980) is an American woman convicted of killing her daughter, Paris, by cooking her in a microwave. She is currently serving a life sentence.
Case
Incident
In August 2005, when China Arnold and her children lived with her boyfriend Terrell Talley in a housing complex in Dayton, Ohio, there was an argument over Paris' paternity, after which 28-day-old Paris was placed in a microwave oven for what analysts estimate was longer than two minutes. Medical experts said the baby died after her temperature reached between 107 to 108 degrees Fahrenheit. She had no external burns, but did suffer high-heat internal injuries.
Finding Paris cold and stiff with burn marks on her body the next day, her parents took her to the hospital where she was pronounced dead. Arnold told investigators that she had been intoxicated. John Paul Rion, the attorney who represented Arnold at her first trial, said she was intoxicated to the point of blacking out when the child died. Arnold had been convicted of abduction in 2000 and forgery in 2002.
Arrests
Arnold was arrested and subsequently released due to a lack of evidence. She was rearrested in November 2006.
Trials
While in jail awaiting trial, Arnold became romantically involved with her cellmate, Linda Williams, who later testified that Arnold confessed her guilt to her.
First trial
Shortly after Arnold's first trial began, in February 2008, Talley said his son had told him that he pulled Paris' lifeless body out of the microwave after a neighbor's boy had put her inside, and the judge declared a mistrial.
Second trial
During the second trial, the mother of the boy said to have placed the baby in the microwave testified that he was not at the housing complex when Paris died, and Arnold was convicted of aggravated murder and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole on September 8, 2008 and incarcerated at the Dayton Correctional Institution.
On November 5, 2010, the Ohio Second District Court of Appeals reversed Arnold's conviction, citing prosecutorial misconduct and stated that the court erred by not allowing material witnesses to testify in her defense.
Third trial
On May 13, 2011, a jury found Arnold guilty of aggravated murder. Her attorney had argued that the evidence pointed as much to Talley as it did her, but failed to convince the jury. On May 20, Arnold was again sentenced to life in prison without parole, her attorney saying they would appeal the decision.
In September 2013, Arnold's lawyer requested a new trial in the Second District Court of Appeals, claiming multiple errors were made in her case. In December 2013, the 2nd District Court of Appeals affirmed the conviction. An appeal regarding her life sentence was made citing constitutional questions about double jeopardy, asking the Ohio Supreme Court to reverse the 2nd District Court of Appeals decision and send the case back to the trial court "for re-sentencing", but in May 2014, the Court decided not to take up the appeal.