Free Republic

A mother was arrested on suspicion of murdering her newborn daughter by microwaving the baby in an oven. China Arnold, 26, was jailed Monday on a charge of aggravated murder, more than a year after she brought her dead month-old baby to a hospital. Bail was set Tuesday at $1 million. "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...

A woman accused of cutting off her newborn son's private parts in 2004 was ordered Monday to spend five years behind bars. The Sakai branch of the Osaka District Court convicted Shizue Tamura, 27, a resident of Izumi, Osaka Prefecture, of inflicting bodily injury. "The way she committed the crime was unprecedented, inhumane and cruel," Presiding Judge Masahiro Hosoi said as he handed down the ruling. Prosecutors had demanded an eight-year prison term. The judge dismissed the defendant's not-guilty plea, pointing out that only she and her son were at home at the time of the incident. However, he reduced...

On site report from Kristinn at a Cindy Sheehan anti war rally being held at the Independence Mall outside the Constitution Center. , Cindy said that she is determined t not only wants to see George Bush impeached but she wants to see him tried for Crimes Against Humanity. She states is so determined to see this done she says she will live for 1000 years. She went further by saying that even if she were involved in a fiery plane crash she would walk out alive just to see this done. Kristinn yelled out to her as she was...

A woman whose year-old daughter died of a drug overdose was charged with murder after police found traces of cocaine in the baby's bottle, police said Monday. Daniela Toledo do Prado, 21, brought her daughter Vitoria to the hospital on Saturday night, complaining that the child was suffering from convulsions caused by drinking spoiled milk. The child vomited repeatedly and died of heart failure early Sunday, police investigator Paulo Roberto Rodrigues said. Doctors found a suspicious white powder on the girl's tongue. The mother claimed the powder was milk but it tested positive for cocaine, Rodrigues said. Police searched the...

Savarin DeJesus spent her Friday night downing gin and smoking cigarettes before returning to the homeless shelter where she and her 4-month old baby girl lived. The 18-year-old woman went to sleep with the baby at her side, but soon started throwing up in a bucket next to her bed filled with cleaning solution and water. It ended up costing the baby her life: The infant fell into a puke-filled bucket and died. DeJesus was charged with criminally negligent homicide and endangering the welfare of a child.

A terrified 3-year-old girl was left stranded in the lobby of a Chinatown building after her mother angrily told her, "Go away! I don't want you anymore!" police and witnesses said yesterday. Little Angelina Chen was seen running after her mother, weeping and desperately calling, "Mommy! Mommy!" as her mother walked off, witnesses told The Post. Police arrested the woman, Jin Lin, 32, of Queens, hours after witnesses said she left the child in an office building near the corner of Market and Division streets. She was charged with abandonment of a child and endangering the welfare of child. But...

NEW YORK - A 3-month-old infant fell off a bed into a bucket of her teenage mother's vomit and died, said police, who charged the woman with negligent homicide on Thursday. Savarin Dejesus, 18, had left the child with a baby sitter at an East Harlem group home where she lived to go out partying Sept. 15, police said. When she returned, Dejesus vomited in the bucket next to the bed where she fell asleep with her daughter, Niah Ford, in her arms, police said. The infant later tumbled into the bucket and apparently drowned, police said. Dejesus didn't discover...

In a case of "Whose life is it anyway?" a state appeals court ruled yesterday that a mentally handicapped woman has no say over whether she should be kept alive on life support. In the unanimous decision, a five-judge panel ruled that the 26-year-old - who says she wants to be kept on life support in the event she's felled by illness or an accident - isn't competent to make that decision. Instead, her mother, who is her legal guardian, gets to make the call - and she doesn't want her daughter on life support. A lawyer for the woman,...

A Montana mother who allowed her 18-month-old baby daughter to inhale from a marijuana water pipe on several occasions was properly convicted, but should not have to spend five years in jail, a U.S. appeals court ruled on Friday. ADVERTISEMENT Jessica Durham was photographed allowing her toddler Michala to suck from a marijuana water pipe, also known as a bong, in 2004 by a friend upset about the activity. "Ms. Durham allegedly remarked that smoking improved Michala's appetite and left Michala lethargic and mellow - a manner she found consistent with her own experience smoking marijuana," Judge Louis Pollak of...