Maloney was arraigned by Judge Greg Stephens, who increased his bond to $500,000. His bond was set shortly after his arrest at $200,000 at the municipal court level.
Stephens also scheduled Maloney’s trial for March 8. He is scheduled to be back on court Jan 31 for a pretrial hearing.
The injured woman, Jayla Witt, called dispatchers about 7:50 a.m. screaming that someone had broken into her Grand Boulevard residence and burned her and the child.
“Somebody ran in my house,” Witt told dispatchers. “I am burned. Me and my baby are burned.”
Hamilton Sgt. Richard Burkhardt said the woman and her 16-month-old son were intentionally doused with hot oil.
“She was in bed. The guy broke into the house. He had some hot oil and threw it on her while she was asleep and also burnt the child,” Burkhardt said.
Witt has a long road to recovery, according to police and prosecutors.
An investigation pointed to Maloney as the suspect. He was taken into custody Dec. 29 in Kentucky, waived extradition and was booked into the Butler County Jail about 4:30 p.m. that day.
In 2000, Maloney pleaded guilty in Butler County Common Pleas Court to voluntary manslaughter for fatally beating a man to death with a baseball bat. Judge Keith Spaeth sentenced Maloney to the maximum sentence of 10 years in prison. In 2008, Spaeth denied Maloney’s request for early release from prison.
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