South Valley child abuse suspect testifies at her trial

VISALIA, Calif. (KFSN) -- Desie Horton became emotional multiple times Monday morning during her testimony. She was shown numerous photos and videos of her son, Jimmy Horton, who died of his brain injuries in February of 2014.

She's charged with child abuse with a special allegation of willful harm or injury resulting in Jimmy's death. Earlier this year, Desie's one-time boyfriend, 34-year-old Trevor Bishop, was convicted of killing the child.

He's currently awaiting his sentence. Shortly after separating from Jimmy's father, Desie says she met Bishop in September of 2012.

They moved in together in December, and she says he seemed like a good family man.

"He was on the ground playing with the kids, just having fun," Horton said. "I mean it was something the kids needed; they needed that to have a father that was around, playing around on the floor with them and having fun."

In late February, while Horton was at work, Bishop told her that Jimmy had fallen onto the toy train tracks while they were playing together, and he texted her a picture of him.

Horton says she believed Bishop because she also asked Jimmy about what happened.

"And he said, 'I fell on the train tracks.' Well how did you fall on your train tracks? And he said, 'Well, I was riding, I got on daddy Trevor's back and I slipped.'"

On a camping trip, Horton says her son's rear-area was bruised by falling on some rocks. She says an injury to his genital area was caused by Jimmy zipping his shorts up too fast. But Horton testified she hadn't seen some of Jimmy's bruises until he was at the hospital.

A child abuse expert for the prosecution has previously testified that many of jimmy's injuries appeared to be non-accidental, suspicious, or even inflicted.

Horton faces a maximum of ten years in prison if convicted of all the charges. Closing arguments started Monday and will continue Tuesday.