BY DAN HORN
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Charles Williams says his baby daughter stopped breathing moments after he gave her a hug.
He says he panicked and tried to revive the 11-month-old by balling his hands into fists and patting her on the chest, trying in vain to perform CPR.
"I mean, I got scared and nervous," Mr. Williams told police detectives in May. "I didn't know what to do."
But prosecutors say Mr. Williams' statement, which was played Tuesday in Hamilton County Common Pleas Court, proves he intentionally inflicted the injuries that would kill his daughter Cassie nine days later.
The Avondale man is charged with aggravated murder and could face the death penalty if he is convicted at his trial later this year.
Defense attorneys went to court Tuesday to seek an order barring prosecutors from using the statement at Mr. Williams' trial. Judge John O'Connor said he would review the request and make a decision before the trial.
In the statement, taken just hours after Cassie was admitted to the hospital, Mr. Williams said the trouble started when he tried to give the girl a bottle to stop her crying.
When she rejected the bottle, he said, he was "patting on her. . . . My hands was kind of balled up a little bit."
He then gave his daughter a hug and noticed she was making strange noises. "I didn't know what's wrong with her," he told the detectives.
"She couldn't breathe. After I hugged her, she couldn't breathe."
Mr. Williams, 27, said he knew his daughter needed help, but he wasn't sure how to perform cardiopulmonary resuscitation.
"Her eyes rolled, and I gave her CPR," he said. "And I pounded her chest down there."
Although police have said only that Cassie died from "homicidal violence," the detectives who spoke with Mr. Williams said the injuries included severe rib fractures.
Throughout the interview, Mr. Williams states that he never intended to hurt his daughter.
"I love my baby," he said. "Truly do."
