[tense music]
‐ It's incredibly rare
for a criminal defendant to take the stand.
It's a risk very few take.
At stake? One's freedom or even their life.
This is Lindsay Partin, housewife, mother
charged with killing three‐year‐old Hannah Wesche.
She decided to take that gamble.
‐ They just kept telling me
"Something happened, something happened."
‐ Will it help her convince the jury she's not guilty?
‐ I just gave them the answers they wanted to hear.
I didn't want anybody to be in trouble.
‐ Or, will it come back to haunt her?
‐ I didn't think she was gonna pass away.
‐ Take a courtside seat with...
And Lindsay's cousin.
I'm Dan Abrams, and this is "Under Oath."
‐ Raise your right hand. ‐ Do you solemnly swear?
‐ I'm being honest with everything I say to you.
‐ Do you solemnly swear?
‐ The whole truth and nothing but the truth?
‐ I would like to testify.
‐ The testimony you are about to give‐‐
The whole truth and nothing but the truth‐‐
So help you God.
‐ The story that you've now come up with today
is that you never hurt Hannah.
‐ That's not a story, that's the truth.
♪ ♪
‐ Mother of two, Lindsay Partin,
was indicted for the murder of Hannah Wesche,
who she'd been babysitting.
Hannah died of head trauma after ten days
in Cincinnati Children's Hospital in 2018.
Lindsay and her attorneys knew her cross‐examination
in a child abuse case would be tough.
But they believed Lindsay needed to take the stand
to address her statements to sheriff's detectives,
statements that led to questions
about her credibility.
♪ ♪
‐ Jurors want to hear from those that are accused
of committing crimes against children
and that the person on the witness stand
says, "I didn't do that, I would never do that,
I couldn't do that."
‐ When she was arrested,
she had never been in any trouble before.
Never even with, like, a schoolteacher
or her parents, I mean nobody.
‐ She's a mother of two.
She was a cheerleader, she was a Girl Scout.
You look back, and she had zero criminal history.
We couldn't even find a parking ticket.
‐ Lindsay started a home daycare business
when her girls were just in their toddler years.
Lindsay really loved having the kids around.
They had this big garage, so she and her husband
converted it into a play place.
♪ ♪
Jason Wesche moved in next door
to be a mechanic for Lindsay's
father‐in‐law's company.
‐ Lindsay babysat other children
and had her children as well.
She said she would watch Hannah,
so we came up with arrangements for her to babysit.
‐ She had said she was rambunctious.
Like, the kind of kid that would
leap off the back of the couch into your arms
whether you were prepared for it or not.
‐ We would go to the creek and get rocks and paint rocks.
We did lessons, I taught them their letters,
their numbers, their shapes,
how to spell their name.
‐ It was early in the morning, March 8th.
Jason Wesche's getting ready for work.
He is a single dad,
raising his three‐year‐old daughter Hannah.
Drove her right next door to the babysitter,
Lindsay Partin's house.
‐ When I took her in, I'd give her hugs and kisses.
And that morning was a little different
because she kept asking for a kiss
over and over and over again.
‐ About 30 seconds to a minute after Jason left the house,
he gets a frantic phone call from Lindsay Partin
saying something is wrong with your daughter.
♪ ♪
‐ And then 911 was called,
and it was a 90‐second timeline
that Lindsay had Hannah in her care that morning.
‐ I walked in.
Hannah was on the floor.
I ended up picking her up
and taking her into the garage.
And laying her on the couch.
She was kind of gasping for air.
She wasn't really breathing.
She wouldn't take another breath
until I yelled at her or I...said her name.
And she'd take another breath,
and then it would come out slow.
‐ You felt like there was genuine panic,
genuine concern in Lindsay Partin's voice.
‐ We found Hannah laying on the couch.
Her eyes were open.
They were not moving,
they were not following us‐‐ tracking us.
Her breathing was rather strange.
Almost like a cry as well, like a little moan and groan.
♪ ♪
We felt it better to transport down
to Fort Hamilton Hospital,
only about four to five miles away
from our location.
We wheel Hannah into ER room 10.
We do another pupils check.
One of her pupils had blown out.
When you see a blown‐out pupil,
and the other pupil's still constricted
or still normal, that's a good indication
of a head injury.
‐ On the same day that Hannah went to the hospital,
Lindsay voluntarily went down
to the Butler County detectives.
‐ Lindsay Partin waived her Miranda Rights
and that she just was questioned,
answering any of the questions the detectives had.
They obviously were suspicious of something.
‐ Lindsay Partin talked to Butler County detectives
on March 8, 2018,
the day Hannah was first taken to a local hospital
and then airlifted to Cincinnati
to undergo emergency brain surgery.
The next day, March 9th,
doctors had started to develop a theory
about Hannah's injuries that led detectives
back to Lindsay Partin
and a second interview
that confirmed certain suspicions.
‐ Doctors battled ten days in an ICU
to try to save Hannah Wesche's life.
‐ Did Hannah ever regain consciousness?
‐ No, ma'am.
‐ A forensic pathologist testified
that Hannah's death was a homicide.
‐ Lindsay's statements to detectives
was just so crucial and damning for her
that we really had no choice.
Lindsay had to take the stand.
‐ Did you lie to the police?
‐ I told them what they wanted to hear.
‐ We found Hannah laying on the couch.
Her eyes were open.
They were not moving.
They were not following us, tracking us.
‐ As little Hannah Wesche fought for her life
in Cincinnati Children's Hospital,
Her doctors held on to a single theory
about her condition.
Hannah's head injuries were caused
by abusive head trauma, and the symptoms occurred
nearly simultaneous to the abuse.
That theory pointed detectives toward Lindsay Partin.
‐ When the brain is injured to this degree,
to cause a death in this child,
the brain can't function properly right away.
She would be neurologically abnormal right away,
probably unresponsive within moments.
‐ Butler County detectives pressed Lindsay,
looking for any details that could fit
the doctor's account of sudden abusive head trauma.
Lindsay Partin had become their chief suspect.
The second interview on March the 9th
showed the sheriff detectives to be much more aggressive.
They had zeroed in on Lindsay
as a prime suspect and the perpetrator,
and they acted like that.
‐ Defense attorneys definitely thought
Butler County sheriff's detectives
had tunnel vision,
and at the end of the tunnel was Lindsay Partin.
‐ Under questioning by detectives,
Lindsay Partin's account began to change.
First, from Hannah walking into the house
under her own power then collapsing
To Lindsay and Hannah taking a fall on concrete steps.
‐ Lindsay was now saying
Hannah's injuries on the morning of March 8th
resulted from an accidental fall they took together.
But there were more inconsistencies to come,
including a third disturbing account
of that morning.
‐ I think it was the second interrogation‐‐
what changed her life forever.
‐ We had to put Lindsay on the stand
so she could explain her state of mind.
♪ ♪
‐ How did you feel in the first interview?
‐ Fine, I was telling them my truth.
Telling them what happened.
‐ And is there any difference
in how you felt in the second interview?
‐ Very much.
‐ I think jurors wanted to hear from her
Why did she say the things she said
the second time around in her interrogation?
‐ What was that difference?
‐ I felt pressured. I felt forced.
I wanted to protect everybody.
I felt bullied.
‐ Did you lie to the police?
‐ I told them what they wanted to hear.
‐ They're telling her
that she'd better give them the answers.
And I think she just did what they were asking.
‐ The defense was trying to save Lindsay Partin
from a damaging police interview.
But would the jury understand
the pressure she says she felt?
Would they believe
that led her to concoct stories that weren't true?
‐ What do you mean you told them what they wanted to hear?
‐ All of their questions like, leading into‐‐
it's an accident, did she fall, all of those things‐‐
I just agreed with them because the day before‐‐
for hours I told them what happened.
Even an hour into that second interview,
I told them what happened.
They didn't want to hear it.
‐ What's the truth as to what happened to
Hannah Wesche in the time frame you had her
on March 8th?
‐ What I said in my first interview.
We walked in the house, and she collapsed.
‐ Lindsay's attorneys
dispute the prosecution's medical theory.
They offered their own expert
who said the symptoms could have been immediate‐‐
but, maybe not,
allowing for Lindsay's initial account of what happened,
that Hannah had walked in and collapsed.
‐ Can you offer an opinion about the amount of time
that would have occurred between the injury
and the onset of the first symptoms?
[dramatic musical sting]
‐ Our medical expert testified that it was probable
that the onset of symptoms was not immediate.
‐ The possibility the symptoms were delayed
had another benefit‐‐pointing to other possible suspects.
‐ The injuries could have been inflicted at a time
before Hannah was ever delivered to Lindsay.
And that would have put Jason square in the crosshairs.
‐ Where Hannah was, who she was with,
in the 24 hours immediately preceding
the EMT's coming to her‐‐
that's a pretty important time.
‐ Yes, ma'am.
‐ Lindsay's defense was
they've got the wrong person on trial.
It wasn't Lindsay, it was Jason.
♪ ♪
‐ What's the truth as to what happened to Hannah Wesche
in the timeframe you had her on March 8th?
‐ What I said in my first interview.
We walked in the house, and she collapsed.
‐ Hannah Wesche's babysitter Lindsay Partin
is facing six felony charges including murder
for the three‐year‐old's death.
The timing of when Hannah suffered the brain trauma
was critical.
The prosecution's medical experts say
Hannah's symptoms would have been immediate,
placing Hannah in Lindsay's hands.
The defense raised the possibility
of the symptoms being delayed, which helped to create a cloud
over Hannah's father, Jason Wesche.
‐ Jason Wesche was questioned briefly by detectives.
He said that he was with Hannah
the night before she died.
That he actually went to Wal‐Mart
because he needed milk for her.
And that's where there's some inconsistencies
with Jason's story,
because the photographs they took of his refrigerator
didn't show any milk.
♪ ♪
‐ Mr. Wesche, you would agree with me
that you lied to the police
about milk and Wal‐Mart, correct?
‐ I was confused, yes, ma'am.
‐ For a whole year and a month, you were confused?
‐ Yes ma'am.
It is detrimental to go through what I went through,
and yes, ma'am, I can't sit here and say
why I didn't remember something.
I wish I could, I just can't.
At that time, I'm worried about telling my children‐‐
how I'm gonna tell them their sister's not gonna wake up
and she's gonna die.
I wasn't really worried about‐‐
I'm sorry, I was confused.
‐ There was another inconsistency
with Jason's story.
His friend Chris was at his house that night,
and that detail was left out.
‐ Mr. Wesche, you don't think that the detectives
would have wanted to know that you had an overnight guest
at your home and that he had contact with your child
within the 24 hours of her injury?
‐ I'm sure they would have, yes.
‐ You were worried, actually,
because you know that the detectives
are looking at you or Lindsay Partin.
It's one of you, correct? ‐ Correct.
‐ And so, you lied to the police
about your whereabouts
on the last night of Hannah's life, correct?
‐ Correct.
‐ You lied about who was present with Hannah.
‐ Correct.
‐ The defense had pointed hard at Hannah's father
and in doing that, tried to push the timeframe
of Hannah's injuries earlier.
Jason was a single father with two older daughters,
but he was three‐year‐old Hannah's primary caretaker.
‐ Did you ever believe
that Lindsay would have hurt Hannah?
‐ No.
‐ And while there was no evidence of
Jason injuring his daughter,
all the defense needed was reasonable doubt.
Prosecution countered by focusing
on Lindsay's credibility.
♪ ♪
‐ After listening to testimony of witnesses,
watching your interview multiple times,
reading the transcript multiple times,
the story that you've now come up with today
is that you never hurt Hannah.
‐ That's not a story, that's the truth.
‐ Any deceptive act makes a person look guilty.
‐ You gave a description of exactly what you did, right?
You went into detail, didn't you Ms. Partin?
‐ They went into detail.
‐ Did they suggest the ketchup, or did you suggest the ketchup?
‐ The second interview,
Lindsay says that she used corporal punishment
on Hannah when she had misbehaved
by squirting ketchup around the house‐‐
days before March the 8th.
‐ It's Lindsay herself
that said some things that got her into this situation.
‐ They asked if there was something else‐‐
or that she got in trouble for that I remember.
‐ So you just‐‐ you just made that up?
This whole ketchup thing‐‐ you just made up
off the top of your head? ‐ Yes, ma'am.
‐ So your testimony today
is that you just agreed with whatever they said.
Is that right? ‐ That's what they wanted.
They kept telling me
"Something else happened, something else happened."
‐ When jurors looked at Lindsay on the witness stand,
they were seeing somebody who was capable of
being deceptive in a courtroom.
‐ Did they specifically give you those details
about the ketchup? ‐ Well, no.
‐ So it was your thought process
on 3/9 of 2018
that you could admit to hitting her with
a closed fist multiple times under the chin,
and you wouldn't be in trouble?
‐ Yes.
‐ As Lindsay Partin's trial headed toward a close,
no definitive picture of what happened
to Hannah Wesche on March 8, 2018, had emerged.
If it was intentional child abuse,
what exactly occurred?
The defense's medical expert
had shifted the possible timeframe earlier,
before Hannah arrived at Partin's house.
That raised questions about Hannah's father,
Jason Wesche.
Prosecution, on the other hand,
attacked Partin's changing stories.
If she had nothing to hide, why lie to detectives
again and again?
‐ The worst‐case scenario that I thought would happen
to Lindsay would be the child abuse charges,
or child endangerment.
There was so much reasonable doubt.
‐ All the defense had to do was create a little bit of doubt
in at least one juror's mind.
Then maybe they could get a not guilty verdict.
‐ They didn't care what I had to say.
I felt pressured. I felt forced.
I wanted to protect everybody.
I felt bullied.
‐ Lindsay Partin's on trial for the death
of three‐year‐old Hannah Wesche
who died of injuries that doctors say were caused by
abusive head trauma.
As the prosecution and defense prepared
final arguments before the jury,
both sides had their challenges to overcome
With no definitive picture emerging of
exactly what happened to Hannah Wesche
on the morning of March 8, 2018.
‐ Circumstantial evidence cases are always tough
for the prosecutors to prove,
because they are trying to convince jurors
about something that nobody saw.
‐ We don't know exactly what happened here.
‐ Prosecutors focused on Lindsay's changing stories
and what they believed was an overwhelming
consensus of medical evidence
pointing toward intentional and immediate harm.
‐ Experts seem to reach the same conclusion‐‐
that this child suffered abusive head trauma.
That her injuries were excessive and extensive.
And she would not have been acting normally
when she received these devastating injuries.
‐ The standard of law is very clear.
It's the job of the prosecutor
to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that time.
And you know why?
Because that's reasonable doubt.
That says this child was injured somewhere else,
not in the 30 seconds,
not in the minute that Lindsay Partin had her.
‐ The defense argued that the State,
burdened with proving the case,
had left far too many questions unanswered.
‐ If you have a doubt
based in reason and common sense,
your verdicts are not guilty.
‐ We want justice for this little girl,
but we don't want the wrong person to be convicted.
‐ As the jury began determining
Lindsay Partin's fate,
there were still plenty of questions
about what happened to Hannah Wesche
on the morning of March 8, 2018.
Jurors would have to sort through
four counts of child endangerment
as well as involuntary manslaughter and murder.
...you and your attorney, please stand.
‐ People were on pins and needles
waiting to hear this verdict.
‐ As for count one of the indictment,
endangering children, we the duly impaneled jury
do find the defendant Lindsay Partin guilty.
‐ After he first said "guilty,"
you just saw the look in Lindsay's face.
‐ As for count two of the indictment,
the duly impaneled jury
do find the defendant Lindsay Partin guilty.
‐ Hannah suffered grievous injuries.
But there's certainly a question in my mind
and other people's minds whether or not it was even
possible for those injuries to have been inflicted
in the minute or so
that Lindsay and Hannah were together.
‐ As to count three of the indictment,
we the duly impaneled jury
do find the defendant Lindsay Partin guilty.
...of the indictment,
involuntary manslaughter, guilty.
Count five of the indictment, guilty.
‐ Guilty again, guilty again, guilty again.
‐ And finally, as to count six of the indictment, murder,
We the duly impaneled jury do find the defendant,
Lindsay Partin, guilty.
All 12 signatures accompany the verdict.
‐ There are some who will look at Lindsay Partin's case
and say, "Well, the question still hasn't been answered."
‐ It still to this day bothers me
not knowing what had happened, truthfully, to Hannah.
‐ Lindsay Partin's family still believes
in her innocence, and they're not gonna stop fighting.
‐ Her girls are going to be
grown up by the time that she gets out.
And that is really the most devastating thing.
‐ Hannah Wesche has her own supporters.
They believe justice was done,
and they want to remember Hannah forever.
‐ So did taking the stand hurt Lindsay Partin's case?
She received a life sentence,
and must serve a total of 18 years before
even the possibility of parole.
Apparently Lindsay's police statement cost her.
Even if jurors had questions about
what happened to Hannah Wesche,
Lindsay's own words may have been impossible to unhear.
Defendants are never forced to take the stand.
But that decision is likely
the biggest one they ever make.
For "Under Oath," I'm Dan Abrams.