Sometimes there are not words to describe the emotions something evokes....
Judge Rules Mistrial In China Arnold Case
Jill Del Greco, Reporter
POSTED: 12:04 pm EST February 7, 2008
UPDATED: 5:58 pm EST February 11, 2008
DAYTON, Ohio -- A judge declared a mistrial Monday in the case of a woman accused of killing her month-old baby by burning her in a microwave, finding that new defense witnesses bolster her innocence claim.
Judge John Kessler made the decision after hearing testimony privately from a juvenile who said he was at the apartment complex of defendant China Arnold on the August 2005 night that her infant died.
View Images: The China Arnold Case
Jill Del Greco Reports On China Arnold Mistrial
The judge did not give details about juvenile's testimony.
The ruling comes after hours of closed door discussions between prosecutors, China Arnold's attorney and the judge.
Closing arguments were supposed to begin Monday morning but were delayed for undisclosed reasons. The jury was asked not to report for duty.
China Arnold is the Dayton woman accused of burning her month-old baby to death in a microwave oven.
A 12-member jury has heard six days of testimony and a parade of witnesses in China Arnold's trial. Arnold herself did not testify.
The 27-year-old was charged with aggravated murder in the August 2005 death of Paris Talley. Arnold has pleaded not guilty and could face the death penalty if convicted.
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Testimony Ends In China Arnold Murder Trial
After a long day of hearing testimony Friday, the defense has rested its case in the China Arnold muder trial in Dayton.
Earlier in the day the trial was put on hold Thursday morning after the judge asked the jury to take a break after only hearing from a few witnesses.
The judge said transportation issues stopped the next witnesses from getting to the courthouse.
The witnesses later arrived late Thursday afternoon from the Ohio Reformatory for Women in Marysville. The inmates testified they had once been incarcerated in the Montgomery County Jail with Arnold.
Both women contradicted earlier statements from another inmate witness for the prosecution who said Arnold had told her, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to do it," when talking about the microwave death of her daughter, Paris Talley.
The defense witnesses said Arnold never talked to anyone about her pending murder case.
After the defense rested, the prosecution had a chance to call several rebuttal witnesses. The prosecution rested their case at approximately 5pm Thursday.
Stay tuned to News Center 7 and whiotv.com for more updates on this murder trial.
Copyright 2008 by WHIOTV.com. The Associated Press contributed to this report. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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Comments
yes horrible- we are having a bad year in Ohio- here's another
Bobby Cutts Jr. admitted today to accidentally killing Jesse Davis and his unborn child last June. Jesse Davis was 37 weeks pregnant. Cutts said they were fighting and he turned away from her, she grabbed at him and he shoved his elbow back "accidentally" hit her in the throat knocking her down. She was then unconscious. He says the bleach wasn't to clean up because there wasn't any blood. He used it to try to revive her, like smelling salts. Then he left his two year old alone in her apartment, wrapped her body in her comforter, and drove to his friend's house who then helped him drive to Akron to dump the body in a park. The friend testified against him and took a plea.
For those of you unfamiliar, he then let her family find out she was missing when her mom showed up to pick up Cutt's two year old son, who had been left alone in the apartment for over 48 hours. The toddler kept saying something like, "Mommy fall...mommy in the rug." And then he let a huge search party and her family hope to find her for the next seven days before leading police to the body.
He's trying for a manslaughter conviction. This guy is a cop (well ex now obviously.) What kind of cop doesn't know to try to resuscitate someone while calling 911 and getting help.
I hope they give him more than 10 years for manslaughter. Thank God his 2 year old didn't die in the house all by himself for all that time.
And that microwave woman, God that makes me ill.
Peace, love, and red wine
Its all disgusting!!
What is wrong with some people these days!! I don't know why they have children in the first place. Sometimes you have to be glad the babies are with god now, it has to be better than the life they would lead with these mentally ill abusive parent/s. It almost makes me cry to hear these stories
Catch xx
*Mean People Suck*
it is sadly the work of a fellow human
I am with Cath22, it makes me want to cry as well and there are days I feel almost too weak to hear what these people endured, but as much emotion as these victims's stories do draw from us ,I believe it is crucial to not turn our heads and to confont them.
It is that raw, sick ,deep empathy for these people that is truly just hard to even hear about at times, but that is the least their lives deserve.
klinder is right there are no words.
I do believe the emotions need to be felt for these souls and those they leave behind.
I believe
that all these horrible people will see their day of justice. We may neverknow it or get to see it, but one day these people has to answer to a much greater power than any of us.