A judge is expected to exempt from accusations the social workers who attended the case of abuse and death of the child Gabriel Fernández.
Gabriel Fernández died after suffering fractures in the skull and ribs as well as burns.
Photo: File / J. Emilio Flores / The Opinion
A Los Angeles County Superior Court judge is expected to dismiss charges against social workers on Thursday for the crimes of child abuse and falsification of records related to the death of Gabriel Fernández, 8, reports ABC News.
The court action has long been awaited after an appeals panel ruled in January that Department of Children and Family Services caseworkers They should not face charges for failing to prevent the torture and murder of the Palmdale boy.
Gabriel died in May 2013 and his mother and boyfriend were later convicted of torturing and murdering him.. Evidence at the trial indicated months of beatings and torture.
Social workers Stefanie Rodriguez, 35 years old and Patricia Clement, 69, and supervisors Kevin Bom, of 41, and Gregory Merritt, 64, were charged with a felony of child abuse and a felony with falsification of public records. Prosecutors say they failed to take appropriate measures to protect Gabriel and then falsified documents related to his case.
In January, a three-judge panel of the 2nd District Court of Appeals issued an opinion ordering a lower court to dismiss the charges against the social workers. In a 2-1 opinion, the panel concluded that there was no probable cause to arrest the four accused of child abuse and forgery of documents.
In June 2018, Superior Court Judge George G. Lomeli He sentenced Isauro Aguirre to death for the first-degree murder of the boy and a special circumstances murder charge involving torture. Pearl Sinthia Fernández was sentenced to life in prison without parole after pleading guilty to first-degree murder and admitting to the torture charge.
Judge Lomeli also handled the case of the social workers and in 2018 denied a motion to dismiss the charges against them, saying the boy’s death was “foreseeable.”
The appeals court formally referred the matter to the lower court in April and Lomeli is expected to officially drop the charges on Thursday.
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