Lawyer Seeks Insanity Plea in Microwave Baby Case

Lawyers are seeking an insanity plea for an Arkansas man on trial for placing his 2-month old daughter in a microwave oven last May 10. Joshua Joyce Mauldin, 20, of Warren Arkansas has been charged with causing injury to a child and faces a potential life sentence.

According to his attorney, Sam Cammack III, Mauldin has a longstanding history of psychiatric problems including auditory hallucinations and mood swings and has been on medication since the age of 10. Despite concerns about his mental state, his family had accompanied him to Galveston, Texas when he reported hearing a call from God to become a preacher. After they checked into a motel, he was left alone with his daughter, Anna, as the rest of the family went to get food. He reportedly became agitated while feeding her and locked the motel room door. Mauldin then placed the infant in the microwave after first placing her in the motel room safe and refrigerator. Although he removed her immediately afterwards, Anna sustained second and third-degree burns and would later require skin grafts to her face and hands.

Mauldin told conflicting stories to police, hospital staff and Child Protective Services but eventually admitted to placing her in the microwave four days later. While the district attorney is resisting the call for an insanity defence, Mauldin's attorneys are seeking to have him committed to a psychiatric facility. Anna has been placed with relatives.

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Comments

[Sandra]

What's really odd is that this isn't an isolated case... did you read about China Arnold's microwaved baby too?

[Romeo Vitelli]

There are some gruesome urban legends surrounding this as well. Mostly they involve poodles or babysitters on acid but they're still part of the popular culture. Maybe it's a bigger surprise that it doesn't happen more often.