SAN ANTONIO – Warning: Some testimony in the trial may be disturbing. Viewer discretion is advised.
Attorneys delivered their opening statements Monday in the murder trial of a San Antonio mother.
Jessica Briones is facing a murder charge for the death of her 4-year-old daughter Olivia Briones.
Briones was charged in 2017 after she carried her unresponsive daughter into a San Antonio Police Department substation. The girl died at University Hospital.
Olivia had numerous injuries and a doctor found multiple sites of bleeding in her head and swelling in the brain. The doctor said it was consistent with a severe blow to the head.
In addition to the head trauma, a doctor found a black eye, fractured vertebrae, a deflated lung and evidence of prior injury to the girl’s left and right arms.
Police said Briones did not give an explanation for her daughter’s multiple injuries or the severity of the head trauma.
Police at the time said Briones had the sole care, custody and control of Olivia.
Briones told police that on the morning she brought Olivia to the substation, the girl was vomiting and would not wake up. She told police her daughter falls a lot and had fallen and hit her head on the floor four days earlier.
Briones also said she slammed the girl’s arm in the door, but it was an accident.
A trial for Briones has been reset several times due to the pandemic, but a jury was seated on Friday.
The trial is behind tried in the 187th District Court with Judge Stephanie Boyd presiding.
If found guilty, Briones could face up to life in prison.