Trial begins for man accused in torture, murder of boy, 8
LOS ANGELES — Opening statements began Monday in the case against a man charged, along with his girlfriend, with torturing and murdering the woman's 8-year-old son, reports CBS Los Angeles.
Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty against Isauro Aguirre, 37, who is charged in the May 22, 2013 death of Gabriel Fernandez. Pearl Sinthia Fernandez, 34, the boy's mother, will tried separately on similar charges.
Young Gabriel's death triggered investigations into the county's child welfare system and resulted in criminal charges of child abuse and falsifying public records being filed against two former county social workers and two of their supervisors.
According to grand jury testimony obtained by the Los Angeles Times in 2014, in the eight months before his death, Gabriel was doused with pepper spray, forced to eat cat feces and his own vomit, and locked in a cabinet with a sock stuffed in his mouth to stifle his screams.
Pearl Fernandez reportedly called 911 on May 22, 2013 to report that her son was not breathing. According to testimony, she told sheriff's deputies that Gabriel had fallen and hit his head on a dresser.
When paramedics arrived, they found Gabriel naked in a bedroom, not breathing, with a cracked skull, three broken ribs and BB pellets embedded in his lung and groin. Gabriel died two days later.
"It was just like every inch of this child had been abused," testified James Cermak, a Los Angeles County Fire Department paramedic.
The coroner found the boy's skull had been fractured in numerous places, his ribs had been broken multiple times, his teeth were knocked out, patches of his hair were missing and he had cigarette burns on his body, reports CBS Los Angeles.
The defense argues that Aguirre did not intend to kill Gabriel. He has pleaded not guilty.
CBS Los Angeles reports that the jury was told Gabriel wrote a note to his second grade teacher before his death saying that he couldn't take it anymore and was considering suicide.
The Los Angeles Times reported in 2014 that according to grand jury testimony, the boy's siblings said that Aguirre and Fernandez called Gabriel gay and punished him for playing with dolls, and forced him to wear girl's clothing to school.
In court papers filed last year, Deputy District Attorney Jonathan Hatami wrote that a first-grade teacher made a report to authorities about Fernandez allegedly hitting her son with the metal part of a belt, causing injury.
"This was essentially the beginning of the eight months of torture and abuse of Gabriel Fernandez by Pearl Fernandez and Isauro Aguirre in Palmdale," the prosecutor wrote, adding that the boy was "withheld from school by the defendants for the last three weeks before he was murdered."
Superior Court Judge George G. Lomeli said the trial is expected to last about six to eight weeks.
