South Valley mother found guilty of misdemeanor child abuse, not guilty of felony child abuse

VISALIA, Calif. (KFSN) -- A Tulare County jury has found a mother not guilty of felony child abuse, for failing to protect her son. She was, however, found guilty of misdemeanor child abuse.

Desie Horton, 33, wept as a court clerk read the verdict. Her son Jimmy Horton died of brain injuries nearly three years ago.

Earlier this year, Horton's one-time boyfriend, Trevor Bishop, was convicted of killing Jimmy-- who was four when he died.

"And I think it did came out in this trial that Trevor did lie to her, when she confronted him about some of this stuff, and they were believable lies," said Eric Hamilton, Defense Attorney.

"It's a big deal for a father in this case for four years been in and out of court, you know this was his little boy, he loved that little boy and it's been a long hard road," said Brenda Broker, Prosecutor.

If Horton had been found guilty of the felony child abuse charge, she would have faced a maximum of 10 years in prison. Now her lawyer doesn't expect her to serve any more jail time.

Horton will be sentenced for the misdemeanor child abuse on June 30th.

Bishop will be sentenced next month.