Mom on Trial - Microwaved her 1yo infant daughter

by Swan | January 30, 2008 at 09:40 am

2379 views | 3 Recommendations | 12 comments

China Arnold, age 27, (pictured) has been accused of of murdering her infant, by placing the 1 month old baby girl in a microwave oven and burning her to death.

Potential jury members were examined - especially about how they felt toward the death penalty.

Each of the half dozen potential jurors questioned before noon said they had heard something about the case, either through news accounts or in talking with friends. But they said they could be impartial.

At first, it was thought that the infant had died of hypothermia because of the burns present on her body. Incredibly, it's not the first time that this has been done to an infant. In 2007, Joshua Mauldin also put his baby girl in the microwave "because he was under a lot of stress." Then there was the case of Elizabeth Renee Otte, in 2000 who claimed she didn't remember placing her 1 month old son in the microwave and turning it on. She only got 5 years imprisonment.

At the time his wife; Eva Marie Mauldin (pictured,) claimed that the devil made her husband do it, in order to thwart his efforts of becoming a preacher.

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.

I've never been a proponent of the death penalty. I remember in Australia when I was 12 or 13, some guy whose last name was "Ryan" received the death penalty and bells chimed all over Melbourne at the moment he was hung.

A few people were white-faced; some were smug, saying that he well deserved it - and I - well I remember feeling very, very cold and ill and feeling as if G-d were looking down thinking; "they have the temerity to step into My place?" That was the last hanging or capital punishment of any kind in Australia.

However, I still get a trickle of ice down my spine when people are given the death sentence here.

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.

Then again, I might want to smack this woman to kingdom come - and probably feel very good about it too.

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.

Yes of course that's possible, but tell me China, how did she get from sleeping on you to the microwave?

The coroner says baby Paris suffered high-heat internal injuries. Because there were no external burns, the coroner has already ruled out scalding water, open flame or any other skin-damaging causes. She might as well claim what the other guy did: "The devil made me do it!"

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.

Galbraith said Arnold told him:

If I hadn't gotten so drunk, I guess my baby wouldn't have died."

Now that makes me want to just backhand her again. Yes I'm somewhat pissed. There are people all over the world who could be good parents if given half a chance, but they're unable to have children - and this piece of scum, takes her precious gift and [allegedly] kills it in infancy - and not even humanely!

Defense witness Robert Belloto, who works at Good Samaritan hospital, testified that he didn't believe Arnold could have committed this heinous crime, because;

... it would have been impossible for Arnold to place the tiny Paris Talley in the microwave because the woman was so intoxicated.

Belloto also admitted that Arnold had told him that she'd consumed "40 percent of a pint of high-proof rum in 90 minutes."

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insaniac

at 13:13 on January 30th, 2008

Comments? Yes, but none fit to print.

Swan

at 13:38 on January 30th, 2008

Hello Insaniac,

Yes I know what you mean. As a mother of two boys, this has torn at the very essence of what makes me a mother. Thank you for showing us how you feel about it.
~ Swan

outragousart

flagged this story as Good Stuff

at 13:22 on January 30th, 2008

Swan, I like this story. It's good stuff.

Sickening. I don't think the death penalty suits these crimes, it isn't punishment enough!

Swan

at 12:33 on January 31st, 2008

Hello Outrageous Art,

Thank you for the flag. :)

Perhaps if the death penalty were by large microwave oven .......
~ Swan

outragousart

at 16:06 on January 30th, 2008

It's worth a try!

Just recently a death row inmate challenged lethal injection as a method of execution claiming it was cruel and unusual punishment. His assertion was that if administered improperly, the inmate would be paralyized and have to suffer through the other chemicals. Only in America.

Swan

at 13:25 on January 31st, 2008

Hello again Outrageous!

Perhaps they should be given their choice of past judicial death sentences; hanging; guillotine; burned at the stake; hung-drawn and quartered; crucifixion, gas chamber; electrocution; firing squad.

Now out of which one of those do you suppose he would deem to be more humane than lethal injection?

That said, it's a 3 drug cocktail that's used:

Sodium Thiopental: Anaesthetic: kills pain and causes sleep;

Pancuronium Bromide: Paralytic: causes asphixiation;

Potassium Chloride: Stops the heart.

This is an archaic cocktail created by someone on the State Medical Examiner's Board back in 1970 - which has not worked immediately on death row inmates several times in the past. One guy tried desperately to get the words out, "Don't work - don't work."

So, it's not a matter of it being administered "improperly" as your subject said, but a matter of the drugs truly not working properly and needing to be reviewed and updated to modern day drugs that DO work.

You may ask why someone on the State Medical Examiner's Board was left to choose and mix the drugs for inmates: the answer is basic - it all comes down to the Hypocratic Oath, where it's stated that doctors are to heal people, not take their lives (paraphrased,) and certainly not suggest a mixture of drugs that will kill people.

So there we have a little history lesson. ;)
~ Swan

Caoimhin1

at 13:31 on January 31st, 2008

That is the saddest story I have ever read, damn! :(

Swan

at 18:03 on January 31st, 2008

Hello Caoimhin,

I agree with you, though it makes me more angry than sad. As a mother, stories like this hit me hard and make me want to do the 'vigilante thang.'
~ Swan

outragousart

at 14:51 on January 31st, 2008

I had heard that. Believe me, they have plenty of drugs and drug combinations that could suit the bill. Maybe we should lay out some options and let them have their choice. The bigger argument is the death penalty itself. I have been back and forth, a decision I am glad is not ultimately mine.

Either way, please keep us informed on these cases. I just hope they each get whats coming to them.

Swan

at 18:11 on January 31st, 2008

Hello again Outrageous,

I know where you're coming from - I've also oscillated for years on whether or not I agree with the death penalty. One minute I'll think no, it's wrong for us to play G-d - then something like this happens, and I'm not unsure any more - IF that woman is guilty, I want her as dead as the child she murdered.

Three weeks from now - I'll return to being unsure if we have the right to make such decisions. I don't think I'll ever be able to definitely say that I feel one way or the other.

Thanks again for your comments Outrageous!
~ Swan

Talish (not verified)

at 14:34 on July 16th, 2008

Okay, First you need to get your facts straight.... That night the incident happen she didn't put a warm bottle in the microwave and fell asleep with the baby in her lap, China had a house sitter to watch the baby there were 3 or 4 other children in the house, China got drunk along with her Paris father name Terrell Talley... and also China and her child father got into a fight all day... Paris was suppose to be with the house sitter but instead the house sitter fell asleep and a little devil boy grab Paris out of her arms and place the baby in the microwave and a little boy who came to John Rion (china Lawyer) grab the baby out of the microwave and place the baby on the couch.... The next day China woke up at 7 in the morning to her baby and realize the baby was not breathing and took her baby to the hospital... That the truth!

Upcoming next month she will walk out with free of all charges.... china is innocent

Monet (not verified)

at 08:41 on October 22nd, 2008

I feel sick.

in Crime, murder, baby, World, Capital Punishment, Opinions, microwave, oven, China Arnold, microwave oven, Joshua Mauldin

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Swan

Hillsboro, Oregon, United States

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First Flagged at 1:20 PM, Jan 30, 2008 by outragousart

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Mom on Trial - Microwaved her 1yo infant daughter

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