JC

An 8-year-old boy was beaten with a baseball bat, shot with a BB gun, burned with cigarettes, forced to eat cat feces and his own vomit, and locked inside a cabinet overnight. His name was Gabriel Fernandez. The man convicted of torturing him to death, Isauro Aguirre, was sentenced to death in California. Now, Gov. Gavin Newsom is moving to commute that sentence, along with those of hundreds of other condemned inmates, to life without parole. For months, Gabriel was subjected to horrific abuse at the hands of Aguirre and his mother, Pearl Fernandez. He was beaten, burned, sprayed with pepper spray, bound and gagged. By the time first responders reached his Palmdale home on May 22, 2013, his small body was covered in injuries. He had a fractured skull, broken ribs, missing teeth, burns and BB pellets embedded in his flesh. Prosecutors presented evidence that Aguirre targeted Gabriel in part because he believed the little boy was gay. Gabriel’s teacher repeatedly reported signs of abuse. Child protective services investigated. Sheriff’s deputies visited the home. The institutions responsible for protecting him had multiple opportunities to intervene. Gabriel died on May 24, 2013. He was just eight years old. In 2017, a jury convicted Aguirre of first-degree murder with the special circumstance of intentional torture. In 2018, he was sentenced to death. Gabriel’s mother received life imprisonment without the possibility of parole. Newsom’s proposed commutations would not release Aguirre from prison or overturn his conviction. They would replace his death sentence with life imprisonment without parole. A jury heard the evidence of what Aguirre did to Gabriel Fernandez and sentenced him to death. That is the punishment California’s governor is now seeking to change.