Barbara Dixon has been given four years of probation for failing to report the abuse of either Gabriel Fernandez or Anthony Avalos, two boys who she was assigned to counsel after allegations of child abuse. Both died.
Los Angeles Deputy District Attorney Jon Hatami calls a petition filed by Pearl Fernandez, which aims to get her resentenced for the murder of her own son Gabriel, "plain wrong."
“Don’t let Gabriel’s story, his life, his death, and his trial be for nothing,” Los Angeles Deputy District Attorney Jon Hatami told Oxygen.com. He invites the public to attend a celebration for the slain boy's birthday.
Shortly after his birth, Gabriel Fernandez was sent to live with his uncle Michael Lemos Carranza and Carranza's partner, David Martinez. Martinez died in El Salvador amid the global coronavirus pandemic.
Four social workers had been accused of negligence in 8-year-old Gabriel Fernandez's torture and death. The case's dismissal has at least one prosecutor calling for changes to California law.
Bobby Cagle, the Director of Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services, claims that drastic changes have been made since Gabriel Fernandez died.
“I can tell you that he feels it’s his fault and if he was out of custody, he would have saved Gabriel," prosecutor Jon Hatami said of Arnold Contreras
"There is a broad body of literature that we’ve seen to suggest that humans are not particularly good crystal balls,” expert Emily Putnam-Hornstein said of using predictive risk modeling to identify abused children.
Noah Cuatro's parents are accused of torturing the 4-year-old for months leading up to his death, as noted in Netflix's "The Trials of Gabriel Fernandez."
In stark contrast to Gabriel Fernandez's mother, Pearl, his great-uncle and his partner seemed to only show affection for the boy when he was in their custody.
Prosecutors say Anthony Avalos was killed by his caretakers, despite multiple people expressing concern he was being abused — just like Gabriel Fernandez.
The four social workers, two of them supervisors, faced a legal fight related to the Gabriel Fernandez case, but it appears to have reached a conclusion.
Isauro Aguirre and his girlfriend Pearl Fernandez abused and tortured her son, Gabriel Fernandez, and forced him to sleep inside a locked cabinet, often while bound and gagged.
"The Trials of Gabriel Fernandez" show how prosecutors didn't just go after the couple who murdered the little boy, but the social workers they claimed failed him as well.
