(Memphis) A Memphis mother who admitted to brutally stabbing her two sons was back in court Thursday.
Jamina Briggs sat quietly inside the courtroom for a report date.
Her attorney recently filed several motions, but the proceeding was set for a later date.
Meanwhile, the Department of Children’s Services has already completed its investigation.
The DCS case was closed shortly after the children died last year, but a report was just recently released.
DCS is updating its child death records online after a lawsuit, in which WREG-TV took part, for access to that information.
The Briggs DCS file answers some questions, but some members we talked to still question how it all got that far.
“A little bit before Father’s Day, they were here, running and playing.”
Those are the last vivid images Wanda McClure has of her grandchildren.
It’s been 10 months since Nicholas and Jeremiah Briggs died.
Their mother, Jamina Briggs, told police she stabbed them.
“She had been sick for a very long time,” says McClure, the boys’ paternal grandmother.
Besides mental health issues, we also now know the Department of Children’s Services had a lengthy history with the family.
The case file shows a history that dates back to 2002.
There are several Child Protective Services investigations, including some for allegations of sexual abuse and risk for physical injury.
None of those were substantiated.
The 50 plus pages mainly document the days after the boys died.
It includes an explanation of how Nicholas wound up with his mother that night.
Due to Briggs’ illness, her mom, had been granted custody of Nicholas in 2007, along with an older sister.
Case notes show Nicholas was with Briggs the night of the murder because of child care arrangement issues, and she’d always had custody of Jeremiah.
DCS also asked whether supervised visits had been required. The grandmother said no, the court advised her to use her own discretion.
As the On Your Side Investigators previously reported, McClure first, had temporary custody of Nicholas in 2007 when the court and DCS determined Briggs couldn’t care for him.
“I didn’t understand why they took Nicholas back from me and gave him back to that type of environment, you know what I’m saying, but I did understand in another sense that she was the maternal grandmother,” explains McClure.
McClure cared for Nicholas much of his first year in the world, and it still puts a smile on her face to talk about how he’d grown.
She told WREG, “Nick had that giggle, he would giggle and giggle and he was just a bundle of joy.”
Joy that won’t ever be replaced.
McClure says at this point, it’s not about blame, but there was clearly a breakdown.
“I think it was DCS, first of all, I think it was Juvenile Court, and I also think it was the system, that mental system that she was treated by. ”
She says leaning on a higher power has allowed her to come to peace with their passing.
When asked about her feelings toward Briggs possibly being convicted, McClure said, “If it takes this to get the help she needs, so be it, I hate it went this far for her to get help.”
Briggs’ mother continues to care for the older sister.
DCS requested grief counseling and therapy for the two, along with a psychological evaluation for Briggs’ mother.
All of the family members WREG spoke with say, at this point, they simply want the best for the surviving siblings.
