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Re: Now on the Menu: Microwaved Niglet
Nuked Niglet News: microwave mammie retried
China Arnold stands trial again in microwave baby death case
Her first trial ended in a mistrial when a boy and his father came forward with new information
DAYTON — China Arnold's first trial ended with a twist worthy of a paperback novel or a Perry Mason television episode.
Her second trial starts Monday, Aug. 11.
Six months after her first capital murder trial ended in a mistrial, Arnold's case returns to Montgomery County Common Pleas Court.
Arnold, 28, is known across the Dayton region and beyond as the woman accused of killing her 3-week-old daughter
in a microwave oven. Charged with aggravated murder, she could receive the death penalty if convicted.
Much will be the same as in the first trial. Jury selection will start Monday and continue for several days. Witness lists and subpoenas show many of the same witnesses that appeared in the first trial.
There are two notable exceptions: a boy and his father, who came forward during the trial and whose statements led retired Judge John Kessler to declare the mistrial, have been subpoenaed by Arnold's defense attorneys.
The boy's father told the Dayton Daily News in February that he called Arnold's attorneys Feb. 4 after his son said he had been present when Paris Talley was killed and had pulled the baby's body from the microwave. The father said his son told him an older child might have put the baby in the microwave.
The boy's mother told prosecutors the boy was not at Arnold's home when the baby died.
Paris Talley was burned to death in
an oven at Arnold's home in the Parkside Homes housing complex on Aug. 30, 2005.
There will be another new player in the second trial: Montgomery County Common Pleas Judge Mary Wiseman, appointed to the bench last year by Gov. Ted Strickland, will preside over the case.
Wiseman will be the third judge to which the case has been assigned. It went first to Judge G. Jack Davis, who died in March 2007, it was then transferred to Kessler.
Kessler retired in October and transferred his docket to the next judge. Because the selection would take some time, and the appointed replacement would have to undergo training, Kessler agreed to hear two murder cases after his retirement: Arnold's and one that was tried in December.
Following the mistrial, Kessler recused himself from the case citing unspecified information he received in closed hearings. The day of the mistrial, Kessler conducted closed hearings with several witnesses, including the boy who had come forward and his father.
So the case returned to the docket of Kessler's replacement. By that time, Wiseman had been appointed. She has since been trained in conducting capital cases.
Wiseman has kept many of Davis and Kessler's safeguards regarding pretrial publicity. The attorneys are still under a gag order, unable to speak publicly about the case. The documents in the case file remain unavailable from the clerk of courts online imaging system.
Media access will also be somewhat limited, as in the first trial, local television stations sharing images from a single camera.
But Wiseman said two weeks ago that she did not plan to use the metal detectors outside of the courtroom, as Kessler did, because it slowed down spectators as they returned from breaks. Everyone who entered the court building must go through a metal detector downstairs, and the sheriff's deputies can put up the metal detector again should there be a need, Wiseman said.
Nuked Niglet News: microwave mammie retried
China Arnold stands trial again in microwave baby death case
Her first trial ended in a mistrial when a boy and his father came forward with new information
DAYTON — China Arnold's first trial ended with a twist worthy of a paperback novel or a Perry Mason television episode.
Her second trial starts Monday, Aug. 11.
Six months after her first capital murder trial ended in a mistrial, Arnold's case returns to Montgomery County Common Pleas Court.
Arnold, 28, is known across the Dayton region and beyond as the woman accused of killing her 3-week-old daughter
in a microwave oven. Charged with aggravated murder, she could receive the death penalty if convicted.
Much will be the same as in the first trial. Jury selection will start Monday and continue for several days. Witness lists and subpoenas show many of the same witnesses that appeared in the first trial.
There are two notable exceptions: a boy and his father, who came forward during the trial and whose statements led retired Judge John Kessler to declare the mistrial, have been subpoenaed by Arnold's defense attorneys.
The boy's father told the Dayton Daily News in February that he called Arnold's attorneys Feb. 4 after his son said he had been present when Paris Talley was killed and had pulled the baby's body from the microwave. The father said his son told him an older child might have put the baby in the microwave.
The boy's mother told prosecutors the boy was not at Arnold's home when the baby died.
Paris Talley was burned to death in
an oven at Arnold's home in the Parkside Homes housing complex on Aug. 30, 2005.
There will be another new player in the second trial: Montgomery County Common Pleas Judge Mary Wiseman, appointed to the bench last year by Gov. Ted Strickland, will preside over the case.
Wiseman will be the third judge to which the case has been assigned. It went first to Judge G. Jack Davis, who died in March 2007, it was then transferred to Kessler.
Kessler retired in October and transferred his docket to the next judge. Because the selection would take some time, and the appointed replacement would have to undergo training, Kessler agreed to hear two murder cases after his retirement: Arnold's and one that was tried in December.
Following the mistrial, Kessler recused himself from the case citing unspecified information he received in closed hearings. The day of the mistrial, Kessler conducted closed hearings with several witnesses, including the boy who had come forward and his father.
So the case returned to the docket of Kessler's replacement. By that time, Wiseman had been appointed. She has since been trained in conducting capital cases.
Wiseman has kept many of Davis and Kessler's safeguards regarding pretrial publicity. The attorneys are still under a gag order, unable to speak publicly about the case. The documents in the case file remain unavailable from the clerk of courts online imaging system.
Media access will also be somewhat limited, as in the first trial, local television stations sharing images from a single camera.
But Wiseman said two weeks ago that she did not plan to use the metal detectors outside of the courtroom, as Kessler did, because it slowed down spectators as they returned from breaks. Everyone who entered the court building must go through a metal detector downstairs, and the sheriff's deputies can put up the metal detector again should there be a need, Wiseman said.
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