SAN ANTONIO — Two years after a 5-year-old Bexar County girl was found dead, her mother's ex-boyfriend was found guilty of repeatedly and fatally abusing her.
Jose Ruiz was convicted on seven counts of injury to a child and one count of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. He will serve life in prison after receiving that sentence on one count, 20 years on a second count and 10 years on each of the remaining six counts.
“That man knew exactly what he was doing. You don’t hit a 5-year-old child and not recognize the danger in that, especially for someone like Mercedes," said prosecuting attorney Brittney Mitchell during closing arguments.
“When she (Mercedes) got to the house, she was happy, happy to be back with me, my wife, her brothers, just playing around and stuff like that, but when it was time for her to go back over with her mom and her sister, she wasn’t so much happy. She wanted to make sure that she was always with Jordan," said family member Rodney Edwards, who testified during the punishment phase of the trial.
The verdict concludes an emotional, dayslong trial that centered on extensive injuries Ruiz was accused of inflicting on young Mercedes Losoya. In their closing arguments, Ruiz's defense team tried casting doubt in the minds of the jury regarding testimony from Mercedes' mother, Katrina Mendoza, who was also arrested but accepted a plea deal ensuring a maximum of 45 years in prison so long as she spoke during Ruiz's trial. The defense pointed to Mendoza's apparent confusion when it came to specific dates, including the year of her own daughter's death.
That testimony came on Thursday, when Mendoza described the extreme lengths Ruiz would go to to discipline Mercedes, including placing thumbtacks on the child's body and leaving her alone for hours. Arrest documents from 2022 detailed weeks of torture and abuse.
"He would sleep-deprive her, he would pull Mercedes' hair, and cover her mouth and nose," Mendoza testified last week. "When Mercedes was in timeout, she'll be on her knees and she would get tired of being on her knees, so she'll put her butt on her legs. In order for her to stop doing that, Jose put thumbtacks on her feet."
Photos of the injuries and abuse were also shown to the jury last week. One showed dog feces smeared on Mercedes' face, which Mendoza testified was Ruiz's doing.
State prosecutors also presented a video from Ruiz's phone that revealed Mercedes crying in pain while in the back of a car being ordered by Ruiz to hold up what appeared to be a jug. Prosecutors said Mendoza and Ruiz tag-teamed when it came to punishing the 5-year-old girl, who loved to sing and dance on TikTok.
"That man knew exactly what he was doing," said State Attorney Brittney Mitchell. "You don't hit a 5-year-old child and not recognize the danger in that, especially for someone like Mercedes."
Mendoza said Ruiz would buy cooling and heating pads, bandages, and creams to help heal the girl's injuries. She eventually took the girl to a San Antonio hospital where she was pronounced dead.
The Bexar County Medical Examiner's Office said it was "obvious" that Mercedes" suffered extreme abuse and torture." On the second day of the trial, the jury listened to an interview between Ruiz and a San Antonio police detective in which the defendant repeatedly denied he was the one abusing Mercedes.
On Monday, Ruiz's team also questioned the validity of testimony provided by Jordan Losoya, Mercedes' older sister. Jordan told investigators she observed food and a spoon being stuffed down Mercedes' mouth just weeks before she died. Mendoza claims that never happened, but the defense though differently.
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