China P. ARNOLD



A.K.A.: "Microwave Baby Killer" Classification: Murderer Characteristics: Parricide Number of victims: 1 Date of murder: August 30, 2005 Date of arrest: November 27, 2006 Date of birth: March 29, 1980 Victim profile: Her 28-day-old daughter, Paris Method of murder: Burning her to death in a microwave oven Location: Montgomery County, Ohio, USA Status: S entenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole on September 8, 2008. Resentenced on May 20, 2011 photo gallery China Arnold (born March 29, 1980, in Dayton, Ohio) is an American convicted murderer. Arnold, who had been convicted of abduction in 2000 and forgery in 2002, was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole on 8 September 2008 for killing her 28-day-old daughter, Paris. The infant was placed in a microwave oven for what analysts suspect was longer than 2 minutes and died shortly after removal. Death occurred because her internal temperature reached critical temperatures. In the words of medical examiner, Dr. Marcella Fierro, "she was cooked." At the time, Arnold lived with her children and her boyfriend, Terrell Talley, in a housing complex. Prosecutors said that she placed Paris into the microwave after an argument with Talley over the baby's paternity; she told investigators that she was intoxicated. Arnold took Paris to the hospital the next day, where she died of her injuries. Arnold was arrested initially, then released due to lack of evidence. She was re-arrested in November 2006. Shortly after Arnold's first trial began, Talley told the Dayton Daily News that his son told him that he pulled the baby's lifeless body out of the microwave after a neighbor's boy had put her in there; the claim resulted in a mistrial. However, at the second trial, the mother of the boy in question established that he was not at the housing complex when Paris died, and Arnold was convicted of aggravated murder. On 5 November 2010, the Second District Court of Appeals reversed Arnold's conviction, citing misconduct by prosecutors and that the court erred by not allowing material witnesses to testify in Arnold's defense. On 13 May 2011, a jury found Arnold guilty of aggravated murder. Her attorney had argued that the evidence pointed as much to Talley as it did Arnold, to no avail. Arnold has been incarcerated at the Ohio Reformatory for Women since 11 September 2008. On May 20, 2011, Arnold was sentenced to life in prison without parole. Her attorney says they will appeal the decision. Wikipedia.org Arnold to spend rest of her life in prison Judge follows jury’s recommendation to spare mom the death penalty By Lou Grieco - DaytonDailyNews.com May 20, 2011 DAYTON — The jury that convicted China Arnold of killing her baby in a microwave oven recommended life without the possibility of parole Friday, sparing the Dayton mother of a possible death sentence. The 12-member jury made the recommendation to Montgomery County Common Pleas Judge Mary Wiseman. Wiseman immediately sentenced Arnold, 31, who remained quiet in the courtroom, to life in prison. Arnold declined to make a statement in court. Wiseman told Arnold she will be appointed appellate counsel since she has a right to appeal. Jurors convicted Arnold on May 13 of aggravated murder in the death of her 28-day-old daughter, Paris Talley, in 2005. Because it was a capital case, the trial had two phases, and the sentencing phase started Thursday. Jurors got the case after 6 p.m. Thursday and deliberated until 8:30 before stopping for the night. They resumed deliberations at 8:30 a.m. Friday before returning a recommendation around 12:20 p.m. Assistant County Prosecutor David Franceschelli said the jury’s decision not to recommend death did not disappoint him. “I respect their decision,” he said. “This defendant will spend the remainder of her living days in a prison.” Defense attorney Jon Paul Rion, seemingly relieved by the life sentence, too, offered the jury “a word of thanks,” just before Wiseman discharged them. None of the attorneys made any additional statements in open court during the brief sentencing. After the sentencing, Rion said he was happy that the jury saw that Arnold’s life had worth. He also promised new appeals. “The fight’s not over,” Rion said. “There are witnesses out there that know China is innocent.” Rion said judicial rulings prevented him from presenting those witnesses. The appeals will be handled by a team assembled from across the country, he said. Asked if his firm would be part of that team, Rion responded, “We will assist China until she’s a free lady.” Family speaks out “We speak for the truth,” said Arnold’s aunt, Wanda J. Stewart. “She is innocent. We’re going to let justice take its place.” Stewart said she was relieved that the jury did not recommend death. “I’m glad that they used common sense and maybe a little doubt,” she said. The jury was instructed to weigh mitigating factors presented by the defense against the aggravating circumstance of purposely killing a child under age 13 while being the principal offender. The jury was given four choices: death, life without the possibility of parole, life with the possibility of parole after 30 years or life with the possibility of parole after 25 years. After receiving her sentence, Arnold was escorted from the courtroom by county sheriff’s deputies. She will be held in the county jail until she is handed over to the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction. ‘24 people ... have found (her) guilty’ Arnold’s first trial ended in February 2008 in a mistrial after a boy came forward — after the defense had rested it’s case — and said he saw another child put the baby in the oven. The boy was 5 years old in August 2005. Arnold was convicted of all charges in September 2008 and sentenced to life without parole. Some witnesses from Arnold’s prior two trials were not called, including Linda Williams, who testified in the first trial that Arnold told her she put the baby in the microwave — then testified in the second trial for the defense that her prior testimony was false. Another was the boy who testified for the defense in the second trial that he saw another child place the baby in the microwave. The Ohio Second District Court of Appeals reversed Arnold’s second conviction in November, focusing on issues relating to Williams’ testimony. As for the possibility of another appeal, Franceschelli said that all defendants have that right, but he stood by the conviction —Arnold’s second for her daughter’s murder. “Now there are 24 people who have found the defendant guilty as charged,” he said. “This defendant has been convicted twice by two separate juries." Jury Returns Guilty Verdict In Microwave Baby Death Whiotv.com May 13, 2011 The jury returned a guilty verdict around 11:45 a.m. against China Arnold on charges of aggravated murder. Paris Talley was 28 days old when she was killed. This is the third trial for Arnold in the case. She is now headed back to prison. Bishop Richard Cox with the Southern Christian Leadership Conference said, "She needs to be set free. She does not need to be incarcerated." As the verdict was read, Arnold's family burst into tears. Crystal McGhee said, "China wanted this baby with all her heart. That's all she talked about, was having a baby girl." Arnold's first trial ended in February 2008 in a mistrial after a boy, who was 5 in August 2005, came forward, after the defense had rested, and said he saw another child put the baby in the oven. 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, citing prosecutorial misconduct in her trial. However, on Friday, a second jury believed that Arnold put her daughter in a microwave oven and killed her. Her first trial ended in a mistrial. "I ask the question, can she get a fair trial in Dayton because too many people have heard of it and they have already judged her?" McGhee said. "This is racism. This is injustice," Cox said. Even though her first conviction came with a sentence of life in prison, it is possible that this jury could recommend the death penalty. "Yes, I'm fearing for her life," McGhee said. Conviction Reversed In Microwave Baby Death Whiotv.com November 5, 2010 DAYTON, Ohio — The Second District Court of Appeals reversed the conviction of China Arnold for the death of her daughter in a microwave oven. The Dayton mother was sentenced to life in prison in 2008, for killing her 1-month-old daughter, Paris Talley. Defense Attorney Jon Paul Rion said on Friday that he was thrilled with the ruling and said he "realized from the first day" that Arnold was innocent. During a news conference, Arnold's mother, Gloria Scott said, "I was so overjoyed. It was so unbelievable. I just couldn't believe it." "I never lost hope, never lost hope, said Kasha Scott, China's sister. Rion said the conviction was reversed based on prosecutorial misconduct in her trial. "The Court of Appeals has reversed and remanded the decision in China Arnold's case. That means she has a right to defend her innocence once again. We believe in her innocence. We believe that she is not guilty of any crime," Rion said. The court not only handed Arnold a victory, but in its decision, said the court found misconduct on the part of prosecutors in the case involving the testimony of the state's key witness who claimed that Arnold confessed that she killed her baby. . Rion said, "Stating that they hid witnesses, disobeyed court orders and essentially tried to subvert the entire judicial process by their acts, by denying China the right to a fair trial." Montgomery County Prosecutor Mathias H. Heck Jr. said, "We are astonished that the Court of Appeals reversed the defendant's conviction. Heck said the prosecutor's provided copies of all witness statements well in advance of the trial. "Moreover, the Prosecutor's Office arranged for defense counsel to interview the witness in question in a private office before she testified. Any and all testimony given my the witness at trial was consistent with the statements that were provided to defense counsel in discovery. There were no surprises in the witness's trial testimony, and there was no ambush," Heck said. Heck said the judge conducted a conference prior to the trial and at that time the State provided the defendant the address of the witness five days before she testified. "We are concerned that the appellate court made no reference in its opinion to this conference and the decisions that the trial judge made at that time." According to prosecutors, the defense should not have had any trouble locating the witness. Heck said, "Defense counsel were well acquainted with the witness, having actually been her lawyers in an unrelated criminal case while the aggravated murder charges against the defendant were pending. The State will file a motion asking the Court of Appeals to reconsider its decision, given the existence of facts in the record that made clear the defense had more than ample opportunity to prepare the examination of this witness and that the defendant was provided a fair trial." For now, Arnold remains at the State Reformatory For Women in Marysville. However, she will likely be returning to the Montgomery County Jail. As for her family, they re just glad to have this one victory and a chance for another day in court. Gloria Scott said, "I knew the truth was going to come out, that China was coming home. I just knew it. You just get that feeling." Life for microwave baby killer BBC News September 9, 2008 A mother who murdered her one-month-old daughter by burning her to death in a microwave oven has been sentenced to life in prison without parole. China Arnold, 28, was spared the death penalty when the jury in Dayton, Ohio failed to reach a consensus. Prosecutors said Arnold, who maintains she is innocent, killed her daughter in 2005 after a fight with her boyfriend. Judge Mary Wiseman said the crime was "shocking and utterly abhorrent for a civilised society". "No adjectives exist to adequately describe this heinous atrocity," Judge Wiseman said, rejecting a plea by Arnold's lawyers for a sentence that allowed the possibility of parole after 25 years in prison. Arnold was not in court to hear her sentence, but followed proceedings by video-link from a side room. Cell confession The court had heard that China Arnold had argued with her boyfriend Terrell Talley about whether he was the biological father of baby Paris. Officials investigating the case said Paris Talley had suffered high-heat internal burns but had no external marks. Prosecutors said that the baby's DNA had been found inside the microwave in Arnold's apartment. Arnold's cellmate told the court that she had confessed to putting her daughter in the microwave and switching it on, because she was afraid that her boyfriend would leave her if he discovered that he was not the baby's father. The defence team said that there was evidence that somebody else was responsible for Paris Talley's death, and that the cellmate had now changed her story. Arnold's lawyers now want a third trial. The first hearing was declared a mistrial when new witnesses came forward. Arnold "has faith in the system, she is strong and will continue to fight until her innocence is proven", said her lawyer Jon Paul Rion. Pathologist: Burns on Arnold's daughter resemble other case Pathologist: Ohio baby's burns resemble other case WDTN.com Tuesday, 19 Aug 2008 DAYTON, Ohio (AP) - Burns on a month-old girl whose mother is charged in her death resembled burns on a Virginia infant boy killed in a microwave oven, a forensic pathologist testified Tuesday. China Arnold, 28, of Dayton, is charged with aggravated murder, accused of killing her daughter Paris Talley in 2005 by burning her in a microwave oven. She could face the death penalty if convicted. Dr. Marcella Fierro testified during Arnold's trial in Dayton that the burn patterns were different from those seen in the Virginia case but that the girl likely died after being burned in a microwave oven for more than two minutes. "I'd say several minutes, given the degree of burning," Fierro said. Fierro said she examined the baby boy in 1999 while working at the Virginia chief medical examiner's office and that he had burns on his lower limbs because the microwave's heating element was on a side closest to his legs. She said Talley's burns were on the front of her torso, limbs and face, because the heating element in Arnold's microwave was on its top. Talley died of excessive heating, not the burns, Fierro said. Also Tuesday, an emergency room physician testified that he was surprised that Arnold seemed not to know the baby was burned. Dr. William Matre said Arnold replied "My baby's burned?" when asked if she knew how Talley had gotten the burns. "I was surprised that I could be asked that question," Matre said. "I thought the injuries were so obvious. I guess I was disgusted." A retired Dayton detective said investigators found a plastic bathtub with sediment at the bottom when they searched Arnold's apartment the day Talley died. "It looked like skin to me," Doyle Burke said. Burke said the burns on the torso, limbs and parts of Talley's face puzzled him and he had looked at items in the home including the stove and oven but had not considered the microwave. "I didn't know a microwave burnt like that," he said. He said he talked to Arnold about things he had been told by witnesses and that she changed her version of events several times. He said he asked Arnold where her four children were, and she told him she had locked three of them upstairs and that the baby was with her father. China Arnold Hellbeast.com March 23, 2012 In Dayton, Ohio, back in August 2005, China Arnold gave birth to a beautiful baby girl named Paris Talley. Unhappily for little Paris Talley, her mother was in actuality a murderous hellbeast with a criminal past. China Arnold had previously been convicted of abduction in 2000 and forgery in 2002. Naughty, naughty. The tiny, helpless baby Paris Talley was not destined for a long life. In fact, Paris Talley did not even enjoy a full month of life. China the hell bitch Arnold was having issues with her boyfriend — the biggest issue being the paternity of little Paris Talley. The boyfriend, Terrell Talley, denied the baby was his and therefore denied any responsibility as the father. (BTW, DNA tests later showed Terrell Talley was the father.) Another issue was the lack of fidelity. Terrell Talley apparently confessed he’d had sex with a neighbour lady. China Arnold became murderously angry, and instead of making the boyfriend feel the power of her wrath she chose to open the gates of hell upon 28-day-old Paris Talley The date was August 29, 2005. China Arnold had decided if her boyfriend wasn’t going to be a father, then she wasn’t going to be a mother, so there! Her weapon of choice was the microwave. This just tears my heart out. Truly it does. I was much happier not knowing. To make it clear just how evil the hellbeast China Arnold is, she cooked her baby to death. The day after Paris Talley was microwaved, China Arnold took her victim to the hospital. The emergency room physician Dr. William Matre saw the burns on the tiny face, the tiny body, the tiny limbs. When he asked China Arnold about those burns, she expressed surprise. “My baby has been burned?” Dr. William Matre was disgusted by China Arnold’s feigned incredulity. The burns were too obvious to be missed. Paris Talley had no vital signs. The emergency room staff tried to revive the burnt baby but it was far, far too late. Paris Talley was dead — murdered. That very day homicide detective Doyle Burke searched China Arnold’s home at 415 Hall Avenue. He found a tub in the upstairs bathroom filled with cloudy water. “It looked to me like it was flaky skin,” Detective Burke said. The detective also found a damp towel in the bathtub that had dark sediment on it. He continued looking for anything in the house that could have caused baby Paris Talley’s burns. “I probably walked by that microwave 24 times,” Detective Burke said. “I didn’t realize that it caused burns like that.” Well, now we all know. Dr. Marcella Fierro, then chief medical examiner for Virginia, said, “She died because she was overheated. She was cooked.” Yup, little Paris was “cooked” for over 2 minutes, causing her internal organs to reach critical temperatures of 107 to 108 degrees Fahrenheit. China Arnold admitted to police that the baby woke her up about 2:30 am. She also told police that she was alone, besides her other children, who were asleep upstairs. There were no signs of a break-in. China the hellbeast Arnold was arrested for murder right away, but was soon released due to lack of evidence. In 2006 she was arrested again and stood her first trial for aggravated murder. That’s right, her first trial. It wasn’t easy to get China Arnold to justice. In fact, it took 3 trials. See, at the very end of trial #1, Terrell Talley’s son from a previous relationship was brought in as a surprise witness. The little boy testified he’d seen a ‘neighbourhood boy’ put the baby into the microwave, and he himself had taken baby Paris out of the microwave. Talley’s son was 5 years old at the time of the murder. This stunning testimony led to a mistrial. During trial #2, the prosecution established that Terrell Talley’s son had not even been in the area on August 29, 2005, so he could not have witnessed anything to do with the baby’s murder. In other words, everything the little boy had said in trial #1 was a big fat lie. Hmmm, I wonder if the little guy had been coached. In trial #2, the prosecution had the taped testimony of China Arnold’s cellmate Linda Williams. She stated that the hell bitch had admitted to microwaving the baby because she was afraid the boyfriend would leave if he found out he wasn’t the father. So, if the cellmate told the truth, then China Arnold must have figured Terrell Talley would forgive her for nuking a baby but not for cheating on him. Wow. That’s not much of a character reference for Mr. Talley. “She said she put the baby into the microwave and started it and left the house,” Williams testified on tape. She also said she asked Arnold how she got the child into the oven. “She said she fit right in,” Williams said. At the end of trial #2, China Arnold was convicted of aggravated murder. Yay! The jury couldn’t decide on the death penalty or life in prison so the judge sentenced her to life. Unhappily the conviction did not last for long. The Second District Court of Appeals reversed the conviction in September 2010 after her defense team protested they hadn’t been allowed to bring in material witnesses. There were also accusations of misconduct on the part of prosecutors. It did not help that Linda Williams recanted her testimony. So in May 2011, China Arnold went to trial for the third and hopefully last time, with Montgomery County Common Pleas Judge Mary Wiseman presiding. Defense attorney Jon Paul Rion argued that the evidence pointed as much to the Terrell Talley as it did to the child’s mother, who Mr. Rion said was drunk at the time. The prosecution told the jury China Arnold admitted to police that Paris woke her up about 2:30 am, and that she was alone except the children sleeping upstairs. The prosecution told the jury there were no signs of a break-in. The jury found China the murderous mom Arnold guilty of aggravated murder. YAY! The sentencing phase was delayed to allow for a mental exam to be conducted on the killer. Two psychologists determined that China Arnold had an average IQ and no significant mental illness. Dr. Jeffrey Smalldon said China Arnold suffered from a ‘low-grade chronic depressive condition’ as well as alcohol and drug abuse. He said he found nothing “that would have justified the death of this child.” In arguing for the death sentence, Assistant Montgomery County Prosecutor Dan Brandt told the jury members quite rightly that there were NO factors that mitigate the “purposeful murder of baby Paris in that microwave.” Defense attorney Kevin Lennen said that the death penalty should go only to the worst offenders (she’s not one of them?). He pointed to evidence that his client was drunk at the time of the baby’s death. Yeah, being drunk is a great excuse for murder. Assistant Prosecutor Dan Brandt told the jurors that the killer’s actions were “even more purposeful” than a slaying with a gun or knife, because she had to stuff the baby into the microwave, shut the door, press the buttons and wait for 2 minutes to take baby Paris out. Don’t let us forget that after she took the baby out, China Arnold put her in a tub of water where her skin peeled off, and then waited until the NEXT DAY to take her to the hospital, when the little darling was already dead! I cannot imagine the pain and torment that tiny little child endured before she died. On May 20th, 2011, China POS hell bitch Arnold was sentenced to life in prison without parole. She and her attorneys are expected to appeal. Of course. China Arnold has nothing else to do for the next few decades. I truly hope that this convicted killer suffers in the years ahead. She’d been blessed with a beautiful baby but chose to murder her in a disgustingly horrific manner. Baby Paris was deserving of a life. China Arnold is deserving of hell. So rot, China Arnold, and then go join your fellow demon spawn in the fiery depths of hell.