Mom Guilty in Baby's Microwave Death

Ka Yang blamed seizure for daughter's horrific death
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted Nov 14, 2015 6:34 AM CST
Mom Guilty in Baby's Microwave Death
Ka Yang attends a hearing in Sacramento County Superior Court in Sacramento, Calif. on Friday, Aug. 26, 2011 for the alleged murder of her baby daughter.    (AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli)

A jury on Friday convicted a California woman of first-degree murder and assault in the microwave oven death of her 1-month-old daughter, rejecting her argument that she was in the midst of a seizure and didn't know what she was doing. Ka Yang, 34, is facing 26 years to life in prison, and she is scheduled to be sentenced in December, the Sacramento County District Attorney's Office says. Prosecutors say Yang put her daughter, Mirabelle Thao-Lo, in the microwave at her Sacramento-area home for 2½ to 5 minutes in March 2011. The girl suffered what authorities said were extensive thermal injuries.

Yang's attorney, Linda Parisi, said after the verdict that she was disappointed, the Sacramento Bee reports. "Ms. Yang suffers from epilepsy. She had an epileptic seizure. It was not deliberate conduct," Parisi said. Yang, who is married and has three other children, initially told investigators that she blacked out while working on the computer with Mirabelle in her arms and woke up on the ground with the baby injured next to a space heater, according to a police affidavit in the case. Although she had a history of seizures, paramedics did not find her to be disoriented when they arrived, according to the affidavit. When detectives pointed out inconsistencies in her story, Yang later acknowledged she lied and said she might have a split personality, the affidavit said. (More California stories.)

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