SAN ANTONIO – A five-hour interrogation video was played to a jury on Tuesday in the murder trial of a woman accused of killing her four-year-old daughter.
Jessica Briones is on trial for the 2017 death of her daughter, Olivia Briones.
Briones took the little girl unresponsive to a San Antonio Police Department substation. Olivia Briones would die from multiple injuries a day later.
SAPD Detective Raul Juarez testified about his interrogation of Briones on the same day the 4-year-old girl was taken to the hospital.
That interrogation video played to the jury began with Briones pacing back and forth and even looking directly at the camera.
Juarez started his interview with questions about what happened the night before Sept. 5, 2017.
Briones told Juarez Olivia was fine, and they had watched movies all day. She said she heard her daughter scream and then cry after she walked away to change.
“She was sitting down but didn’t appear she had fallen,” Briones said in the video.
She said her daughter had fallen the week before but claimed the child was not severely injured.
“She was OK. She bumps her head a lot of the time,” Briones said to Juarez.
On one occasion, months before Olivia’s death, Briones said her daughter hit her head and had a big gash on her hairline.
“There was blood everywhere. I had to put my hand and just put pressure,” Briones said during the interrogation.
When questioned why she didn’t take her daughter to the hospital, Briones said it was too late, and she didn’t think buses were still running then.
It was revealed through the video that Briones hadn’t taken Olivia to the doctor since her 18-month checkup.
Despite the numerous old and new injuries to her daughter, Briones insisted she never physically hurt her.
“She was always the focus of my attention,” Briones said.
Testimony will continue in this trial on Wednesday.