Bazetta mom sentenced to 5 years in prison in death of 4-year-old

Staff report

WARREN

Jennifer Light, 34, mother of a 4-year-old boy who died in 2013 after her boyfriend, Scott Walker, punched him in the stomach, was sentenced Tuesday to five years in prison for failing to protect the boy.

Light pleaded guilty last October in Trumbull County Common Pleas Court to involuntary manslaughter and obstructing justice.

She agreed to testify against Walker if his case went to trial.

But Walker accepted a plea in August and was sentenced to 11 years in prison for involuntary manslaughter.

Diane Barber, assistant Trumbull County prosecutor, recommended a five-year sentence for Light, and Judge Andrew Logan agreed.

Barber said Light saw Walker hit her son, Nicholas Partin, on June 14, 2013, saw him double over and say “ouch,” but failed to get medical attention for him. The blow caused slow internal bleeding that ultimately led to the boy’s death.

She also lied to police and medical personnel, saying she had taken Nicholas to the hospital the previous day after he had ingested carpet cleaner.

The family called 911 at 3:15 a.m. June 15 because the boy was unresponsive in his home on North Park Avenue Extension in Bazetta Township. A Bazetta police officer performed life-saving measures, but the boy was pronounced dead later at Trumbull Memorial.