The mother who burnt her baby in a microwave oven after a quarrel with her boyfriend was sentenced Monday to life in prison without the chance for parole by a court in Dayton, Ohio.

"No adjectives exist to describe this heinous atrocity," judge Mary Wiseman at Montgomery County court was quoted as saying by the Dayton Daily News. "The crime was beyond all human and moral comprehension," she added.

A jury found China Arnold guilty of aggravated murder, sticking her 28-day-old daughter in a microwave in August 2005 and killing the baby after a quarrel with her partner.

Arnold was spared the death penalty as the jury was deadlocked over recommending a sentence. Her lawyer had asked for the chance of parole after 25, saying Arnold regretted the events, but maintained her innocence, saying she had been too drunk to protect her baby.