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SAN BERNARDINO — The father of a 7-year-old girl with AIDS starved and neglected the child before leaving her to die alone on his living room floor, a prosecutor claimed. A defense attorney contended the girl refused to eat. 

Anthony Richardson, 37, did not feed his daughter, Brianna, and failed to obtain medical care for her, Deputy District Attorney Anne Marie Duncan told jurors during opening statements Monday in Richardson’s murder trial. 

Richardson has pleaded innocent to charges of murder, with a special allegation of torture, and felony child abuse. Brianna weighed only 33 pounds when she was found dead on June 11, 1999, at the family’s home in the desert community of Running Springs. 

If convicted, Richardson could be sentenced to 25 years to life in prison. 

An autopsy determined the girl died of severe malnutrition complicated by a blood infection. 

Defense attorney Mark Cantrell said Richardson tried to feed his daughter but she wouldn’t eat. The child suffered from depression and had stopped talking and eating several weeks before her death, Richardson reportedly told deputies. 

Brianna contracted HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, at birth from her mother, who has since died. She was left in her father’s care along with two older sisters and an older brother. 

Deputies discovered the child while investigating her absence from school. Paramedics found her lying on the floor in urine and feces. Oozing sores covered her mouth. 

Investigators also found beer bottles and trash on the floor. 

“A sink was mounted on the kitchen floor on top of a plastic bucket that was being used as a drain,” Deputy Raoul Loera testified.