The Criminal Justice Legal Foundation (CJLF) currently has a petition of challenge which could precede a lawsuit on behalf of family members of murdered 8-year old Gabriel Fernandez.
Family members of other victims are also represented in this petition.
Together, they are challenging Gov. Gavin Newsom’s decision to grant clemency to all 548 of California’s death row inmates, including Isauro Aguirre – who heinously abused, tortured and killed young Gabriel.
A news conference will be held at the state capital this afternoon on Thursday, Nov. 12.
As he leaves office, Newsom’s strong decision to commute the most notorious of death row criminals is already the subject of strong opposition and debate. Death row inmates would be sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Critics of Newsom’s decision including victim rights advocates however, believe that years from now, the landscape could change and dangerous inmates who were once on death row could be granted parole.
Newsom is also currently considering running for president in 2028.
Newsom imposed a moratorium on executions in 2019 and believes state-sanctioned capital punishment is morally objectionable. In a public letter, Newsom said:
“I take this action because I firmly believe that state-sanctioned killing is incompatible with California’s values, undermines the foundations of our legal system and diminishes each of us.”
Jonathon Hatami, who was the lead prosecutor in the Gabriel Fernandez case and prosecuted multiple child abuse and child murder cases, said Newsom’s action, “doesn’t follow the law.”
While sad and disappointed to hear that the governor took this action, he was especially concerned that Newsom didn’t contact any of the family members.
“I immediately called [the cousins] Emily Carranza and Olivia Rubio. I also reached out to Chris Contreras, Gabriel’s uncle, and Ezekiel – Gabriel’s brother- and Virginia – Gabriel’s sister.”
Hatami said he didn’t want the family members to see it on the internet or hear it on a news broadcast before at least telling them.
“They were really upset because they should have been included in the process.”
Carranza, who was instrumental in bringing widespread attention to the case from the start, said to learn that Newsom would commute all death row inmates was a shock.
“I felt betrayed. It’s a slap in the face. He [Newsom] signed Gabriel’s Law. He gave us some hope, and then he pulled the carpet right out from under us.”
Both Ezekiel, who was 12 years old, and Virginia, who was 10 at the time, testified at the trial, which was traumatic for them to recount the cruelty Gabriel suffered – he was starved, locked in a cabinet, burned, made to eat cat feces and used as a daily punching bag. The autopsy showed the small boy had a broken skull, brain swelling and broken ribs, knocked-out teeth, a lacerated liver and a BB pellet lodged in his lung.
“I was saddened that consideration for the entire family was left out of the decision [for] Gabriel, and all the families in these cases,” said Hatami.
“These family members were intimately involved in this case, and they believed justice was served when Isuaro Aguirre was convicted and sentenced to the death penalty.
“Gabriel was tortured for over 240 days, and then he was eventually murdered. And you know, to me, he’s become a big part of my life. Not only being a prosecutor, but also becoming a Dad. His life mattered,” said Hatami.
“When you present all this evidence and to a jury – 19 jurors sat through those four months of the trial, and the jurors decided this case, and then a judge also decided this case, and so now you’re excluding all those individuals, the evidence, Gabriel’s family, the jurors, the judge and then the law.”
Hatami especially takes issue with the sweeping commutation that fails to look at each case individually. He acknowledges that some cases should be reviewed for possible discrimination, bias, and possibility of innocence; there is no doubt that Gabriel suffered unimaginable torture and was murdered by Aguirre.
Dismissing the law and legal process with a “unilateral move,” now he said, is “really disappointing.”
This would be the largest mass commutation of death sentences in U.S. history. However, a portion of the cases will require the state’s Supreme Court approval.
“It’s exhausting, but as exhausting as it is, there’s still fight in me, and by the grace of God, I’m going to fight till the end, even if it takes every bit of energy from me,” said Carranza. “I’m not going to stand by and let him [Newsom] re-victimize victims and survivors, and he’s not going to make us feel like Gabriel and Anthony and Noah and little Mia and thousands of others that have been murdered never mattered.”
Hatami is equally resolute.
“Gabriel passed away in 2013; we did the trial in 2018, but it’s 2026 and I’m still doing the best I can to fight for Gabriel,” said Hatami. “We’ll continue doing that as long as I’m on this planet.”
The San Fernando Valley Sun/el Sol will continue to follow this story and will provide updates online as more information is available.