Liz Schema Builder 1- The Trials of Gabriel Fernandez (Documentary)

During the first week of quarantine, I watched The Trials of Gabriel Fernandez. It’s a documentary that dives into the case murder of Gabriel Fernandez, an eight-year-old boy that died from child abuse in California. In the documentary, you find out his story, and all the ways it could’ve been prevented. You also see the trial of Gabriel’s killer. It was honestly really sad and I had a hard time watching parts of it. However, I thought it was really interesting and informative, and also brought up points that not everyone thinks about in cases like this one.

There were two interesting things about the trials of Gabriel’s murder. First off, the defendants were being tried not only for first-degree murder, but the jury had to decide whether or not they deserved the death penalty. It’s not very common for people to get the death penalty in child abuse cases, at least not in California (where Gabriel and his family lived). However, since the defendants were being tried for first-degree murder with the use of torture, I can understand why they chose to go that route. The other thing that was interesting and unexpected in this case was the fact that four social workers who were involved with Gabriel were also being tried for neglecting the child and falsifying government records. Throughout the documentary, it was made clear that this was an unprecedented decision and there were a lot of mixed opinions about it. They couldn’t talk much about the actual trial of the social workers, because it is taking place right now (or at least when the doc was released). However, they talked a lot about why they were also being charged, and one of the social workers actually talked in the documentary about his story and why he felt he shouldn’t be to blame.

I thought it was really interesting that the social workers were also charged, because not only is it uncommon, it also sheds light on the fact that there are issues within the system that prevent children like Gabriel from getting the help they need. Hopefully, things can change, because no child should be denied the help they need and die at the hands of their parents.

I definitely recommend the documentary to anyone who’s interested, just be warned though that there are many pictures of the abuse that was done to Gabriel, and it can be hard to see.