SAN ANTONIO – A San Antonio jury on Tuesday deliberated nearly four hours before sentencing a mother to life in prison for killing her 4-year-old old daughter in 2017.
The jury convicted Jessica Briones on Monday. She will be eligible for parole after serving 30 years of her sentence.
Briones was found guilty of murder and injury to a child. The jury took just over an hour to deliberate on Monday morning following a three-week trial.
Her daughter, Olivia, died at a hospital on Sept. 6, 2017, after doctors found numerous injuries, both old and new, throughout her body.
The day prior, Briones walked into an SAPD substation with her unresponsive daughter.
A doctor said the girl’s injuries were consistent with a severe blow to the head.
In addition to the head trauma, doctors 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.
In interrogation videos, Briones told San Antonio Police Sgt. Rachel Barnes that she didn’t know how her daughter had the injuries and said she was clumsy. Barnes responded by saying the injuries Olivia had weren’t from a fall.