Mom, boyfriend indicted in fatal beating of her 8-year-old son
A Palmdale mother and her boyfriend were indicted Wednesday, charged with beating the woman’s 8-year-old son to death last year, officials said.
Pearl Sinthia Fernandez, 30, and Isauro Aguirre, 34, were indicted by a criminal grand jury with one count of capital murder. The same day, they pleaded not guilty to one count each of murder with the special circumstance of torture, according to the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s office.
The boy, Gabriel Fernandez, was declared dead in May 2013, two days after paramedics responded to a call about a boy not breathing in the 200 block of East Avenue Q-10.
The defendants inflicted multiple injuries on the boy, including fracturing his skull, breaking several ribs and burning him, according to the district attorney’s office.
The special circumstance murder makes the defendants eligible for the death penalty. Prosecutors will later decide whether to seek a death sentence or life in prison without the possibility of parole.
The pair are being held without bail. They will next appear in court on Aug. 14.
For breaking news in Los Angeles and the Southland, follow @Caitlin__Owens, or email her at caitlin.owens@latimes.com.
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