The Trials of Gabriel Fernandez *TRIGGER WARNING*

[ThePolishWombat]

Started watching the first episode today when the baby napped, and I think it’s fair to say, even the first 5 minutes made for some the three most horrific tv I’ve ever watched
Anyone else started it??

I honestly cannot stop thinking about him. And all the other poor children that are going through this shit day in, day out all over the world.
Gabriel 🕯

@Fairylea I don't know how his siblings will recover. He would never have recovered from that either. Nobody could endure trauma like that.

When the security guard said Gabriel made eye contact with him, kind of "pleading" I think - that will haunt that poor man. He was threatened with losing his job if he pushed things. How did that happen? Why were ppl not falling over themselves to do something?

@golddustwomen that's the horrific thing & a big part of why I watched - children are going through this every day.

A candle for them all 🕯

I’ve just finished episode 3. The photos the teacher took for the Mother’s Day project are just heartbreaking.

It’s so hard to imagine anyone being able to be so cruel to a child and yet it happens all the time.

Like others have said, I’m finding it hard but feel I need to finish it to give Gabriel his voice.

@SeaViewBliss those photos 😭 the fact that despite the abuse at that stage he STILL wanted her to love him.

I watched this last week. It was the most shocking thing I think I have ever watched. Heartbreaking. I am still thinking about Gabriel now.

I used to believe in the Death Penalty - if you take someone else's life then why should you keep your own. At the start I was ranting that I would pull the switch. Now I think death is too good for them. They need torture and hatred every day of their lives.

Did you see in an early episode where Pearl was ranting at the wardens that they hadn't been careful with her cosmetics and they had cost her money? I would have made her eat the fucking cosmetics.

@SorryDidISayThatOutLoud oh yeah - I forgot that! And they used the defence that she is a bit "mentally challenged" or whatever the term is (I really want to be totally un-PC) yet she spoke normally about shit like that & shouting in the cells about him having a wank!!! 🤬🤬🤬

I have a son with learning disabilities (severe to the point he’s in a complex needs school) and I felt really insulted they were trying to somehow imply Pearl might not know right from wrong because of her intellectual capabilities and background. There is no doubt she had a horrific background but she clearly knew right from wrong - that’s clearly evident by the way she treated the other two children differently and had the intelligence to know that she would get extra welfare money for Gabriel. They also tried to cover up the bruises. They both knew the way they treated him was wrong. I really don’t like the way many people try to say that someone with a learning disability always lacks empathy or the ability to understand right from wrong. Even the youngest child who has very limited intellectual understanding knows that hurting someone else is wrong.

Sorry I’m ranting. It just made me angry.

So many of these cases with the mum and a step dad. I think there’s some sort of toxic combination where a single mum begins a new relationship with someone and becomes obsessed/in lust with them, it’s like they can’t see them for who they are and the children often become just a nuisance to them - I’m not suggesting that’s always the case at all- I was a single mum myself and met my now dh when my dd was 6 years old, he’s always been wonderful with her and we’ve been together over 10 years now. But I think a lot of these particular single mums come from very disadvantaged backgrounds and cling on to a new partner to the point they don’t care what happens to their children, often becoming abusive to them themselves. It’s a really worrying dynamic and seems to happen again and again. Another story of it in the papers today - Autumn Horak. Just awful it keeps happening.

@Fairylea two very good points - it is insulting to make that link, and moreover to use it as a defence & an excuse! I also don't believe she has learning disability at all. I do wonder why that dynamic with a new boyfriend is part of this - and I really struggled with the notion of the "family scapegoat" - it's such a sickening idea to think of.

@SorryDidISayThatOutLoud me and my dh we're discussing this death vs life imprisonment
The partner got the death penalty which I'm pleased about as it won't of happened straight he will of been in prison for a while I reckon these things don't happen overnight and he will of been beaten in prison daily I would say.
I can't imagine other inmates look well over pedo's and child abusers
I do think facing death and counting down the days would be terrifying
and she will be in prison for LIFE no good behaviour will get her out America don't fuck around like we do in the UK.
I wish we had death penalty in the uk

@mrssunshinexxx he's still on death row. They've not executed anyone in a long time & the prisoners can be there for years. I just hope he's not kept segregated.

@QueenOfOversharing generally speaking, death row inmates are kept separate from the general prison population, and live mostly in single cells, lockdown for 23 hours a day, with 1hr “exercise” allowed....which from what I’ve seen on documentaries means they go from being locked in a cell indoors, to being locked in a cage outdoors.

I watched a program about a prisoner in the US who'd spent a lot of his sentence segregated with no access to books etc who ended up murdering his cell mate on a rare occasion when he was sharing. The reason was that he wanted to be on death row as conditions are generally better, the inmates are all in the same boat so it's much calmer with less violence etc.

After watching that, I think life without the opportunity for parole is probably a worse sentence.

Might depend on the State and the prison though.

@WaxOnFeckOff My rational brain tells me that I’m 100% opposed to the death penalty - partly because of the exact reason you’ve said above.
They are generally kept safe on death row. And then at the end of it they will die - which is the easy way out of facing up to what they’ve done.
Why should Isauro be safe? He should live every single day of his miserable existence in the same kind of terror and pain he put that poor little boy through.
But at the same time, my emotional, irrational brain would love to watch the fear in his eyes when the syringe full of lethal drugs is depressed and he realises his time has come.

Does anyone know why he got the death penalty and she didn’t? Was it just because she pled guilty and he said he didn’t mean to do it? Feel like I’ve missed an explanation of that part.

Fairylea yes. She took the plea bargain. So she plead guilty, waiving her right to a trial in order to avoid the death penalty

He wanted to do a plea deal on a lesser charge which wouldn't have meant the death penalty, so effectively he admitted killing but the prosecution didn't accept and took him to trial. She pled guilty to a higher charge than he was willing to initially plus I think the evidence maybe wasn't as strong so they took it.

From memory he was willing to take 2nd degree murder a d she accepted 1st degree with life without parole. Could be wrong though.

Ok thank you. That makes sense now.

@WaxOnFeckOff that’s what I understood from it too.
He plead guilty to 2nd degree murder i.e murder with no premeditation. The prosecution could smell his shit a mile off so rejected the plea and took him to trial on charges of 1st Degree murder because there’s no way you inflict injuries on a person that severe and for that extended period of time not knowing/understanding that you will eventually kill them. The worst kind of premeditation

Can't cope with that absolute twit on the jury that was not on the same page as all the other jurors !
I would love to do jury service one day

@ThePolishWombat the death row inmates in California are all in San Quentin - I've seen those shows too & they really don't mingle. But I was hoping since they're all together (over 700!!) they might let them near enough him to fuck him up!

Just looking at something & last prisoner ex turned was in 2006!! And over 700 still there. They need to get a shift on. I'd be doing 3 a day, save them money.

It makes me so angry that he will be living a much better life than Gabriel did. How is that fair?

@mrssunshinexxx I've been called twice for jury duty but both times couldn't do it. I'm a real crime tv junkie, so I'd love to do it. But I don't know if I could cope with a trial like that.

I actually don't mind that there is someone on a jury that disagrees with the rest. My reasoning is that it prevents a knee jerk reaction and means that people have to really think about why they believe in the verdict they've given and clearly argue the point in order to convince the one dissenter. Imo it makes the conviction stronger.

W are all allowed to have differences of opinion and different interpretations and it's up to the prosecution/defence/judge and jury to clearly argue the points and lay out the evidence so that we come to the correct conclusion.

There would be nothing worse than being innocent and being convicted or as a juror, being responsible for someone being executed just because you didn't put your view forward and have it properly debated.

As frustrating as it no doubt was at the time for the other jurors, I think ultimately his uncertainty was a good thing.

God no I couldn't cope with that @QueenOfOversharing

I was called 3 times for jury duty over a short period when I was in my late teens/early twenties but never had to actually go. never been called since. My nephew was on a 6 month trial that dragged on (very technical case to do with a gas explosion). He's been permanently excused.