Mom charged in baby's microwave death*

POSTED: 0242 GMT (1042 HKT), December 7, 2006

DAYTON, Ohio (AP) -- A woman suspected of killing her month-old daughter
by putting her in a microwave oven was indicted on a charge of
aggravated murder Thursday, and the prosecutor said he would seek the
death penalty.

The indictment against China Arnold, 26, does not provide details on the
death of Paris Talley.

Investigators have said evidence that includes high-heat internal
injuries and the absence of external burn marks on the baby were
consistent with a microwave oven. The baby died on August 30, 2005. Her
mother was arrested last week.

"The Montgomery County coroner came to the conclusion that the injuries
sustained by this baby could have only been caused by being placed into
a microwave oven and having that oven turned on and [cooking] the baby
to death," Montgomery Country Prosecutor Mathias Heck Jr. said at a news
conference.

Heck declined to discuss a possible motive or release any other details
about the case. He said Arnold would be subject to the death penalty if
convicted because the victim was a child.

Defense attorney Jon Paul Rion said Arnold had nothing to do with her
child's death. He said Arnold and the child's father had left Paris with
a baby sitter the night before she found the baby unconscious.

"China has the moral courage and the confidence in her God that the
truth will come out in this case," Rion said. "We will seek every single
way possible to communicate to our government and to the jury in this
case that China is innocent of all the charges."

Arnold is being held on $1 million bond. Heck said he will ask the court
to order her held without bail at a hearing Tuesday.