Prior to the Friday night sentencing of former First United Methodist Church Day Care Director Abby Leach, five of the six parents involved in felony charges were called to the stand.
There, in Christian County Circuit Court, each was allowed to give an impact statement to the jury on behalf of their then-infant child, harmed in abusive scenarios from 2018-19 under the care of Allison Simpson and Nina Morgan.
Emily Marlar said she understood the concept of leaving her child under the care of Simpson directly, but felt like a director had required duties to report suspected abuse.
Dave Herndon confirmed that FUMC parents and officials, as well as the Hopkinsville Police Department, were only able to review 40 days of DVR camera footage pulled from December 2018 and January 2019, as previous months of footage were unavailable because of new camera installation.
Herndon noted that of those 40 days, only 25 of them occurred during business times, and that HPD was able to glean more than 30 criminal charges in that time alone.
A rhetorical question, he asked: “Did anything happen before these tapes?” Herndon also gave a nod to Will Campbell and his testimony on the stand, and called out the perceived-by-some ideation of “troublemakers,” “pot-stirrers” and “gossipers.”
Travis Faulkner said Leach should’ve had every comfort to contact he and his wife, Laura, about potential day care problems with their child. He also made reference to an old text thread that was admitted into evidence, basically confirming some abuse issues were almost certainly known.
Katie Hanning, who called for that initial January 2019 meeting with former FUMC pastor Paige Williams and James Adams, said she thought she knew Leach better.
Jeremiah Swaw said he and his wife, Hayla, still remember the day in which they got the phone call from HPD detectives — needing them to identify their child in some obtained video. He said their family had been discussing the developments within the church prior to the call, and that they were some of the “last to know.”
Through her defense attorney David Bundrick, former HPD officer Chris Patterson gave a character witness of Leach — describing a strong mother and loving wife, who needed to be spending time with a recovering husband.
The jury opted to give Leach a minimum of one year in prison, parole eligible.
Bundrick stated to Special Judge Brian Wiggins that an appeal bond would be in the works.
