Partin said the first day she began babysitting for Hannah, whose father Jason was hired by her father-in-law’s construction company, she posted on social media, “Welcome sweet Hannah." It was the summer of 2017.
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On the morning of March 8, 2018, Partin said Jason Wesche brought Hannah to her house about 7 a.m., and she took the child’s hand to walk from the garage to the house.
“She said ‘doughnut’ and ‘couch’ and collapsed,” Partin told jurors while sniffling.
She said she was trying to assess Hannah and get her to talk to her. Then she called Jason Wesche and 911.
"I tried to assess the situation. I thought maybe she was having a seizure," Partin said. "I called Jason it went to voicemail."
She did reach Wesche, and he returned immediately to pick up Hannah and placed her on the couch. Hannah was eventually taken to Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, where she died 10 days later. The prosecution says she suffered abusive head trauma.
During questioning by Butler County Sheriff’s detectives on March 8, 2018, Partin made many of the same statements as she did today. But in the second interview, on March 9, 2018, she told detectives she slapped and hit Hannah. And on the day of the incident, she shook Hannah, she told them.
Partin told the jury today those statements are not true. Partin said she felt bullied by the detectives during the second interview.
“They didn’t want to listen to what I had to say,” Partin said. “I just agreed with them ... told them what they wanted to hear.”
In the March 8 interview, the detectives falsely told Partin that Hannah had died.
“I was devastated, I felt like I was going to throw up. I loved her very much,” Partin said.
The detectives also told her it was “her or Jason” who harmed the girl.
Defense attorney Melynda Cook Howard asked Partin why she didn’t throw Wesche “to the wolves.” Her answer was that she protects everyone.
“I care about him, he is my friend, I care about his daughters,” Partin said. “I didn’t want anyone to get in trouble.”
Partin said she never hit Hannah and told jurors the girl fell twice in the day leading up to March 8, 2018, on the gravel drive way and from a toy train. Both times Hannah was bruised and hurt her eye.
“It was not me,” Partin said about Hannah’s injuries.
The scenario about slapping Hannah after she poured ketchup in the toilet also is untrue, Partin said. She said a friend told her she disciplined her child that way and it would not be considered child abuse.
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