By Signal Staff
A local deputy district attorney who prosecuted the case of an 8-year-old Palmdale boy who was murdered by his parents reacted vehemently Thursday to the news that Gov. Gavin Newsom is clearing California’s death row, commuting the death sentences of hundreds of inmates, including the man convicted in the Gabriel Fernandez case.
Gabriel Fernandez was an 8-year-old Palmdale boy who died in 2013 after enduring what was described as a torture killing at the hands of his mother, Pearl Fernandez, and Isauro Aguirre, Pearl’s boyfriend. Pearl Fernandez pleaded guilty and received life in prison. Aguirre was convicted by a jury in November 2017 of first-degree murder, with the special-circumstance torture-murder allegation found true.
Assistant Head Deputy District Attorney Jon Hatami, a Santa Clarita resident who leads the Complex Child Abuse Section of L.A. County District Attorney’s Office, prosecuted Gabriel’s mother and Aguirre, and said in a prepared statement Thursday that Newsom’s decision does a disservice to victims like Gabriel Fernandez.
“Little 8-year-old Gabriel was brutally tortured for over 240 days. He was eventually murdered. After a four-month trial, a jury found the murderer guilty of first-degree murder, they found the special allegation of intentional murder by torture to be true and they unanimously decided capital punishment was the just decision for the crimes committed,” Hatami said in the statement. “A judge then, after looking at all the evidence and hearing all motions, sentenced the murderer to death.”
Californians voted in favor of capital punishment in 2012 and again in 2016, Hatami noted, adding that the majority of Californians believe it is the just punishment for the worst of the worst crimes against humanity.
“In one day, after not talking to a single family member of Gabriel, the governor unilaterally commuted this murderers’ sentence,” Hatami’s statement said. “This isn’t justice. It’s not transparent. It’s also unfair. It ignores the law, the facts, the evidence, the juries’ sacrifice and our entire judicial process. Politics has no place when deciding what is right and just.”
Hatami added: “It ignores everything that Gabriel went through. Newsom doesn’t believe Gabriel’s life mattered. Well, I do, his family does and I know the community does. Gabriel will never be forgotten.”
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