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ELYRIA, Ohio (Court TV) — A mother accused of murdering her 4-year-old son would often instruct the boy's babysitters to give him cough syrup and codeine to get him to sleep, according to the sitters' testimony Wednesday. The two babysitters, Luis Agosto and Rachael Wise, both said that the medicine, which was prescribed for the boy's cousin, made him ill, then tired. "He threw up afterwards," Wise told jurors of Jacob Diar's reaction to a Tylenol pill containing codeine. Prosecutors hope the testimony of the two sitters and others will convince jurors that Nicole Diar was a neglectful mother who "farmed out" her parental duties to her sister and neighborhood teenagers while she went out on the town.
The state alleges that Diar grew tired of caring for the boy and asphyxiated him on Aug. 27, 2003, then doused his body and their house with gasoline and set it on fire to cover up the murder. Although Diar faces the death penalty if convicted of the aggravated murder of her child, one of the lesser charges she is facing in the trial relates to the illegal administration of a narcotic to a minor. During opening arguments on Monday Diar's defense attorney Jack Bradley conceded that his client used the drugs to calm her child down, but said it didn't mean she killed the boy. Wise, 16 at the time she looked after the boy with her friends, testified that Jacob spent most of his time in the care of Diar's sister Becky, around whom he seemed more considerate and attentive. "He was a good kid around Becky, not so much as around Nicky [Nicole Diar]," she said. When Wise babysat for Jacob, she testified, Diar would stay out until 4 in the morning. Diar also neglected to give the sitter a phone number where she could be reached in case of emergency, or even leave food for Jacob. Luis Agosto's testimony echoed that of Wise's, and he added that Diar had a novel way of paying the then 14-year-old after she came home for the night: with cigarettes. | 
