Arnold was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole after her last trial in May 2011. Her attorney, Christopher Thompson, argued in front of the appellate court in September that there were five errors made in the case and that Arnold should get another trial without death penalty specifications.
But Judge Jeffrey M. Welbaum, who wrote the decision released Friday with concurring opinions from Michael T. Hall, Mike Fain, ruled against all five arguments and affirmed the Montgomery County Common Pleas Court case in full.
"This defendant was found guilty by 24 jurors during two separate jury trials," Montgomery County Prosecutor Mat Heck Jr. said in a press release. "We are pleased with today's decision affirming this defendant's conviction, and hope that this will bring some finality to this tragic case in which a 28‐day‐old baby girl was murdered in a microwave oven."
Thompson said he's been in contact with other attorneys to present Arnold's appeal to the Supreme Court of Ohio. Thompson had hoped to secure another trial for Arnold in which the death penalty was taken off the table and reckless homicide replaced aggravated murder as a jury option.
A summary of the appellate court's ruling said: "The trial court also did not abuse its discretion in refusing to instruct the jury on Reckless Homicide, because the evidence presented at trial would not reasonably support both an acquittal of Aggravated Murder and a conviction upon the lesser included offense of Reckless Homicide."
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