No new trial for microwave baby killer

DAYTON, Ohio, Dec. 9 (UPI) -- There will be no third trial for China Arnold, the Dayton, Ohio, woman convicted of killing her baby in a microwave oven, a judge says.

Montgomery County, Ohio, Common Pleas Judge Mary Wiseman Monday ruled that Arnold's arguments for a second retrial lacked merit, and let stand her punishment of life in prison without the possibility of parole, the Dayton Daily News reported.

Arnold's baby, Paris Talley, was 28 days old when she died Aug. 30, 2005. Arnold was spared the death penalty for her September conviction on aggravated murder when the jury deadlocked during the trial's punishment phase, the newspaper said.

The woman's first trial ended in a mistrial after a man came forward saying his son, then about 5 years old, saw another boy put the child in a microwave. In Arnold's second trial, prosecutors asked for the death penalty.