‘I know in my heart that I am completely in love with this woman, without a doubt.’  The female student, 17, who had a sexual relationship with former special ed teacher Jennifer Walsh, 27, [photo] prayed the court for leniency at the start of her sentencing on Wednesday

An Ohio teenager professed she’s ‘completely in love’ with a teacher she had sex with at the instructor’s sentencing on Wednesday, where she insisted the relationship was consensual.


In court Wednesday, the student told Judge Jody Luebbers that what happened “was willing, on both ends.”
“I know in my heart that I am completely in love with this woman, without a doubt,” she said.
Walsh, 27, worked as a special education teacher and girls junior varsity lacrosse coach at Sycamore High School in Cincinnati before resigning in October 2018. Jennifer Walsh who graduated from the University of Cincinnati where she played Division 1 lacrosse, started teaching at Sycamore in 2014 and became the JV lacrosse coach a year later.
She resigned three days after a report was made to Montgomery Police about her sexual relationship with a 17-year-old student which lasted from May through August 2018.
Walsh pled guilty last month to gross sexual imposition and faces up to 18 months behind bars.
Hamilton County Common Pleas Judge, Jody Luebbers, delayed the sentencing to Friday, saying she needed more time to deliberate as investigators say their relationship was ‘real’, according to The Cincinnati Inquirer.
The alleged victim spoke at the start of the teacher’s sentencing on Wednesday, professing her love for the teacher accused of sexually abusing her.
Overwhelmed with emotion, Walsh cried as the student sought mitigation from the court.  In court that student said that their relationship ‘was willing, on both ends.’
The lead investigator also asked for leniency in the case because the student never ‘felt forced or coerced.’

Montgomery Police Detective Steve Hoy said the case different from other teacher-student relationships he’s investigated, adding he believes their relationship is genuine.
‘This relationship, I believe, was actually real,’ Hoy told Luebbers. ‘It will probably continue to be real.’
Luebbers hears from Hoy, the student and Walsh’s mother on Wednesday.
A meeting between the prosecutor and defense attorney met  with the judge in her chambers, sentencing was deferred.

Former Special Ed teacher Jennifer Walsh [photo], originally faced two counts of sexual battery but the charges were reduced in a plea deal

Walsh originally faced two counts of sexual battery but the charges were reduced in a plea deal.


In the investigation police seized Walsh’s computer, cell phone and personal documents in their search.
After Det. Hoy, the alleged victim and then defendant’s mother spoke, all seeking leniency for Walsh, Luebbers met with the prosecutor and Walsh’s attorney in her chambers for nearly 15 minutes.
When they emerged, Judge Luebbers declared that she was not yet ready to impose a sentence.
“I just need…more time,” she said.