Mother charged in death of baby has prior record

The woman was convicted of forgery in 2002 and of abduction in 2000.
DAYTON (AP) -- A woman authorities suspect of killing her month-old daughter by putting her in a microwave oven has been convicted of abduction and forgery in the past six years, according to court records.
China Arnold, 26, is charged with aggravated murder in the Aug. 30, 2005, death of her daughter, Paris Talley.
She was arrested Monday.
"We have reason to believe, and we have some forensic evidence that is consistent with our belief, that a microwave oven was used in this death," said Ken Betz, director of the Montgomery County coroner's office. He said the evidence included high-heat internal injuries and the absence of external burn marks on the baby.
Arnold was convicted of forgery in 2002 and of abduction in 2000, according to records in Montgomery County Common Pleas Court. She was put on probation for five years in each case.
A 72-year-old woman said Arnold approached her in the parking lot of a shopping mall south of Dayton, told her she had a gun, and forced her to drive her downtown. The woman said Arnold asked for her purse, according to a Miami Township police report.
The woman said she feared for her life so she hit the gas, ran red lights and began swerving to try to attract the attention of police.
"I gave her the ride of her life," the woman later told police. "I threw that girl from door to door. I was whipping my car all over the street, side to side."
Arnold's version of events
Arnold told police she had no gun, denied that she asked the woman for her purse, and was simply trying to scare the woman into giving her a ride home. She said she told the woman she wasn't going to hurt her and eventually showed her that the "gun" was a bottle of lotion inside a glove.
Arnold said she jumped out of the car when the woman slowed down, rolled on the ground and hit a parked car.
Defense attorney Jon Paul Rion said Arnold had nothing to do with her daughter's death and that her previous convictions have no connection to the current allegations.
"Her past acts -- none of them involved violence. No one was hurt," Rion said.