Prison sentences given to two women who abused children, including infants, at a church daycare have been upheld by the Kentucky Supreme Court.
The abuse was first reported in 2018 regarding Allison Simpson, 29, who was the primary teacher in the nursery at the First United Methodist Church daycare in Hopkinsville.
“Workers at the daycare reported that Simpson would regularly throw children down onto a bed or onto the floor when she was upset with the child. They also recalled Simpson’s practice of patting the infants so excessively that it was like beating them. Concerned co-workers talked with parents who later notified Hopkinsville police,” the Kentucky Attorney General’s Office said.
After reviewing more than 1,000 hours of footage from the daycare, police arrested Simpson and Nina Morgan, 57, Simpson’s great aunt, who worked alongside her niece in the nursery.
In 2022, Simpson was sentenced to 20 years in prison while Morgan received a 12-month sentence for her role in the abuse. The two women were tried together.
Beyond video evidence, testimony about the abuse came primarily from the parents of the children, the attorney general’s office said. The women appealed their sentences and the admissibility of the parents’ testimony along with several other purported errors from the trial court.
The Kentucky Supreme Court agreed with the commonwealth and upheld the women’s sentences.
Assistant Solicitor General and Director of Capital Litigation Chris Henry represented the commonwealth on appeal.
(Photo l-r: Allison Simpson, Nina Morgan)
By Ken Howlett, News Director
Contact Ken at ken@k105.com
