A Los Angeles County superior court judge on Thursday dismissed a case against four social workers charged with the death of 8-year-old Gabriel Fernandez.
Stefanie Rodriguez, 35 years old; Patricia Clement, 69; and their respective supervisors, Kevin Bom, 41; and Gregory Merritt, 64, were charged in 2016 with a felony of child abuse and falsification of public records in connection with the death of May 2013.
The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office said in a statement Wednesday that the case was expected to be dismissed. A spokesman for the county superior court confirmed to NBC News on Thursday that Judge George Lomeli dismissed the case during a hearing earlier in the day.
According to Lomeli’s ruling, the judge found that the social workers were “really innocent” of the crimes, according to NBC Los Angeles.
The Department of Children and Family Services released a statement on Facebook saying it respects the court’s decision.
“Over the years, the Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services has taken significant steps to mitigate risk and improve our county-wide capacity to better serve vulnerable children and families and, as department, we remain committed to ensuring that reform continues. ” the agency said.
The dismissal was expected after an appeals panel ruled in January that social workers cannot be prosecuted for Gabriel’s death because they did not have custody of Gabriel and could not have controlled the actions of the abusers, according to Los Angeles. Times.
Gabriel died in May 2013 in Palmdale, north of Los Angeles, after his mother and boyfriend brutally mistreated and tortured him. His skull was fractured and 12 ribs broken, prosecutors said, and he was forced to eat cat feces and sleep tied and gagged in a cabinet at his home.
Her mother, Pearl Sinthia Fernández, pleaded guilty to first-degree murder and was sentenced in June 2018 to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Her boyfriend at the time, Isauro Aguirre, was found guilty of first-degree murder and sentenced to death. Aguirre is still on death row.
Prosecutors said at trial that Aguirre “liked torture” and abused Gabriel because he thought the boy was gay.
During his sentencing, Aguirre said, “I want to apologize to my family for what I did. I wish Gabriel was alive,” and “I want him to make better decisions every day,” according to NBC Los Angeles.
The case was the subject of a February Netflix documentary series, “The Trials of Gabriel Fernandez.”
