DaytonDailyNews.com

DAYTON — The hearing to decide whether China Arnold will get a new trial ended Wednesday, Nov. 5, with Judge Mary Wiseman of Montgomery County Common Pleas Court ordering the attorneys to file legal arguments on the request by Nov. 14.

On Monday, witness Linda Williams, 40, recanted her testimony from Arnold's first trial, in which she said Arnold admitted putting her 28-day-old daughter in a microwave in 2005 and said "she fit right in." On cross-examination, Williams said she didn't remember because she had been on "psych meds" at the time and it was possible Arnold did say what Williams claimed she said.

Defense attorneys also presented three boys who claim that another child had admitted putting the baby in the appliance. Those boys testified that their signed statements to police, which said the boy never made the claim, were made under duress.

During cross-examination, one of the boys wept and said he had lied about the other child's admission. The weeping boy changed his story back under additional questioning.

Much of Wednesday's testimony dealt with the effort of investigators involving Williams and the three boys. The investigators denied that the boys or Williams had been coerced.

Arnold was convicted of aggravated murder in September and sentenced to life without the possibility of parole.