Mother charged in baby's microwave death won't face death penalty

Noting that she doesn't have a criminal background, prosecutors in Sacramento announced Friday that they would not seeking the death penalty against a mother accused of killing her baby by putting him in a microwave oven.

Instead, prosecutors will seek life without parole for 30-year-old Ka Yang.

Yang also faces an allegation of torture, which would give her life in prison without the possibility of parole if she is convicted of that charge.

Family members have rallied to Yang's side.

“My daughter is not this kind of person, and I don’t know why this happened to her now,” Choua Kue, Yang’s mother, said in an interview last year.

In March, police were called to Yang’s home on reports of an unresponsive baby.

The coroner found the little girl had extensive thermal injuries, consistent with reported cases of burns from a microwave oven.

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--Ian MacDonald, Fox 40 Sacaramento

Photo: Ka Yang in court. Credit: Fox 40 Sacramento