Re-trial for mother accused of burning her baby daughter to death in a microwave

China Arnold placed Paris Talley inside the oven and burned her to death, a court has heard.

Prosecutors in Dayton, Ohio, produced the device and used the doll to illustrate how the infant was murdered.

But yesterday during opening statements in Arnold's re-trial, the court  heard that Tilley's young cousin put her in the oven.

Evidence: A doll sits on top of the microwave that prosecutors claim a one-month-old girl was killed

The young relative also told friends that he hadn't been lying about the death when prosecutors later announced a microwave was used in the 2005 death, defence lawyer Jon Paul Rion said.

'I know who killed that baby,' the cousin had said days after the death, Rion told jurors.

China Arnold, 28, is being retried on charges that she killed Paris Talley by burning her in an oven.

Arnold has pleaded not guilty to a charge of aggravated murder. She could face the death penalty if convicted.

Judge John Kessler declared a mistrial last February after he privately heard testimony from a juvenile who said he was at Arnold's apartment complex the night the baby died.

China Arnold faces the death penalty if found guilty on charges that she killed one-month-old Paris Talley

The judge declared the mistrial just as closing arguments were to begin but did not reveal what the juvenile said.

A newspaper later reported that the mistrial came after a man told defence attorneys that his five-year-old son identified an older child as the person who might have put the baby in the oven.

The older child is said to have a history of putting cats and dolls into microwaves.

Prosecutors said evidence will show that Arnold was responsible for her daughter's death.

Their case will include testimony from a former cellmate of Arnold who claims Arnold confessed to her and described putting the child in the microwave.

"'She fit right in". Those are the words of this defendant," said Dan Brandt, assistant Montgomery County prosecutor.

Arnold has offered too many different accounts of what happened that night, Brandt told jurors.

But Rion argued that Arnold couldn't remember what happened and was probably too drunk that night to have put the infant in the oven. There were also varying accounts from others of the events of that night, he said.

'She's not lying,' Rion said. 'She's simply trying to put the pieces of the evening together.'

The case continues.