A Los Angeles County judge has ruled that the county’s disciplinary appeals board made a series of errors in its decision to reinstate one of the supervising social workers who failed to remove 8-year-old Gabriel Fernandez from his home before he was tortured and killed.
The judge sent the case back to the county’s civil service commission for a new hearing to decide Gregory Merritt’s fate.
In the meantime … Merritt will once again be terminated.
Gabriel’s mother and her boyfriend are awaiting trial on charges of capital murder and a special circumstance of torture. They have pleaded not guilty.