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Thread: 12-year-old Cristian Fernandez Sentenced in 2011 FL Slaying of 2 Year-old

  1. #1
    Administrator Heidi's Avatar
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    12-year-old Cristian Fernandez Sentenced in 2011 FL Slaying of 2 Year-old



    Cristian Fernandez, the 12-year-old indicted for murder and aggravated child abuse of his brother, will continue to be held without bond in the Duval County jail until at least Wednesday, a Jacksonville judge ruled Saturday.

    Fernandez, arrested in March on charges he beat his 2-year-old brother to death and indicted by the Duval County grand jury on Thursday, made his first appearance in adult court Saturday before Circuit Court Judge Waddell Wallace.

    The boy made his entrance into the courtroom among 80 fellow inmates, all recently arrested or transferred to the jail.

    He was conspicuous both for his garb — he wore bright orange amid of sea of drab green and gray — and his size. The inmate seated next to him in the front row bench appeared to be more than a foot taller than the 5-foot, 1-inch Fernandez.

    He was represented by Assistant Public Defender Rob Mason, who asked the court to transfer the 12-year-old from the jail back to juvenile facilities.

    Mason said Fernandez, whom psychologists have found emotionally and psychologically immature, had been doing well in the juvenile facility before being moved to the jail late Friday.

    But Wallace, who is not overseeing the case, said he would defer to Circuit Court Judge Elizabeth Senterfitt, before whom Fernandez is scheduled to appear for arraignment Wednesday.

    Fernandez is charged with the March 14 beating death of his 2-year-old half brother David Galarriago at the family's Southside apartment.

    His mother, Biannela Susana, 25, who gave birth to Fernandez when she was 12, is also being held in jail on charges of culpable negligence in the aggravated manslaughter of the younger boy.

    Read more at Jacksonville.com: http://jacksonville.com/news/crime/2...#ixzz1OQBfL0EM

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    Administrator Heidi's Avatar
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    12-year-old accused murderer kept in isolation at Duval jail
    http://jacksonville.com/news/crime/2...-murderer-kept

    Defense: 12-year-old charged in toddler's death was abused, neglected as child
    http://jacksonville.com/news/crime/2...glected-childl

    Jacksonville 12-year-old charged with first-degree murder of brother
    http://jacksonville.com/news/crime/2...murder-brother

    Defense requests gag order removed in Cristian Fernandez case
    http://jacksonville.com/news/crime/2...fernandez-case

    Prosecutors concerned about possible visit between Cristian Fernandez, mom
    http://jacksonville.com/news/crime/2...tian-fernandez

    Father, former neighbors stunned by murder charge against Cristian Fernandez
    http://jacksonville.com/news/crime/2...#ixzz1TX0e4hKX

    Cristian Fernandez's plight becoming a cause for some
    http://jacksonville.com/opinion/blog...ing-cause-some

  3. #3
    Moderator MRBAM's Avatar
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    Police: Fla. boy, 13, killed 2-year-old brother

    9/16/12


    JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (AP) — Lawyers for a 13-year-old boy charged with murdering his 2-year-old half-brother and sexual abusing another young half-sibling will ask a Florida judge to dismiss the case.

    The case of Cristian Fernandez is scheduled to be heard before Judge Mallory Cooper on Sept. 28.

    Fernandez has been held in a juvenile detention facility since March of 2011, when he was arrested.

    Fernandez’ mother pleaded guilty to aggravated manslaughter in the 2-year-old’s death because she didn’t take him to a hospital for two hours after finding him unconscious.

    Legal experts say the teen’s case is a difficult one; a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling banning sentences of life without parole for juveniles makes it impossible for them to advise Fernandez since the Florida Legislature has not changed state law. Prosecutors say they never said they would seek a mandatory life sentence.
    http://www.boston.com/news/nation/20...Z8I/story.html

  4. #4
    spayneuteryourpets
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    Do you know where adult sociopaths come from? Yep, child sociopaths. They are born this way. I bet this kid hurt animals too. It takes a lot to kill someone by beating them to death. He kept hitting his brother after his brother stopped moving because he liked the feeling of power. Yeah, he had a bad childhood. Lots of people have had bad childhoods and they don't beat someone to death. I never have. I never will because I have empathy and a conscience. This kid needs to be locked up for the rest of his life to protect all living beings who are smaller and weaker than he is.
    joan+20

  5. #5
    Administrator Heidi's Avatar
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    Judge's ruling on dismissal of murder charge against Cristian Fernandez due at 11:30 a.m.

    Duval County Circuit Judge Mallory Cooper's rulng on a defense motion to dismiss the first-degree murder charge against Cristian Fernandez. will be released at 11:30 a.m., her office told The Times-Union this morning.

    The order will be released in paper form by Cooper's office. There will be no court hearing.

    The Times-Union will have a reporter at the courthouse to pick up the order and will immediately update this story when the order is received.

    Lawyers from both sides have been waiting about two months for the ruling in the March 2011 death of Fernandez’s 2-year-old half brother, David Galarraga. The murder trial is set for March 4.

    If Cooper sides with the prosecution, the defense can't appeal and the case will continue with its next hearing set for Nov. 29. If she favors the defense, prosecutors can appeal to the First District Court of Appeal or refile the case with a lesser charge, meaning Fernandez would remain in custody.

    The motion to dismiss, argued before Cooper Sept. 28, was based on a U.S. Supreme Court ruling in June that sentencing juveniles to a mandatory term of life in prison without parole for murder is cruel and unusual punishment.

    Fernandez, now 13, was 12 when indicted by a grand jury on the first-degree murder charge.

    His attorneys have argued that since there are no longer specific statutory punishments, such cases must be dismissed under the due process clause of the Constitution. They say they are unable to decide how to proceed, including the pursuit of a plea bargain, since they are unaware what punishment Fernandez could face.

    Prosecutor Mark Caliel conceded that Fernandez can’t be sentenced to death or a mandatory life sentence but it wasn’t the court’s intent to prevent prosecutors from seeking first-degree murder charges against juveniles.

    Caliel said the Supreme Court decision only referenced the constitutional nature of the punishment imposed but did not expand to the state’s authority to charge juvenile offenders under the law.

    Caliel has argued that the sentencing range set out by the legislature before it enhanced the penalty to mandatory life in 1994 could be revived. The pre-1994 range for first-degree murder is 25 years to life in prison.

    Defense attorneys have countered that the law does not allow for a revival of the earlier punishment.

    Fernandez is accused of slamming David into a bookshelf while Fernandez's mother was out of their apartment. The mother, Biannela Susana, has pleaded guilty to aggravated manslaughter in the case and has been listed as a prosecution witness against Fernandez after giving up her parental rights to him and two other siblings. Prosecutors accused her of neglecting David, including failing to get him medical attention for eight hours after finding him wounded in thier apartment.

    An unrelated sexual battery case against Fernandez involving another half brother was dropped by prosecutors earlier this month. They cited a lack of physical evidence and witnesses among the factors.

    The possibility of charging Fernandez with second degree murder was discussed during some of the earlier arguments before Cooper. Cooper asked at one point whether the state had the discretion to file a second-degree murder charge against Fernandez.

    One of Fernandez's attorneys suggested that the Supreme Court's finding in Miller would not affect the Fernandez case if the state sought his indictment for second-degree murder, which carries a sentence of up to life in prison.

    But Caliel said since the state has used an underlying felony of aggravated child abuse as part of the indictment, seeking a second-degree murder charge may not be possible along the same route.

    If Cooper's order favors the defense, it would be the second major blow dealt by the judge to prosecutors. The first came in August when she tossed out police interrogations in the murder and sexual battery cases, agreeing with the defense that Fernandez neither understood his Miranda rights nor grasped the consequence of waiving those rights.


    Read more at Jacksonville.com: http://jacksonville.com/news/crime/2...#ixzz2ClxFnaQZ
    An uninformed opponent is a dangerous opponent.

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  6. #6
    Daisy
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    the last posting on this thread appears to be 20th Nov 2012. Can someone please update...I am assuming that Frenandez is still in an institution. I'd also like to ask--->by the time the lawyers on both sides of this case pursue the various processes that have to be gone through, if Frenandez reaches the age of 16 will he then, or could he, be tried as an adult which might impact differently on his eventual sentence; or will any subesquent trial be conducted solely on his age as it was when he committed the crime

  7. #7
    Administrator Heidi's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Daisy View Post
    the last posting on this thread appears to be 20th Nov 2012. Can someone please update...I am assuming that Frenandez is still in an institution. I'd also like to ask--->by the time the lawyers on both sides of this case pursue the various processes that have to be gone through, if Frenandez reaches the age of 16 will he then, or could he, be tried as an adult which might impact differently on his eventual sentence; or will any subesquent trial be conducted solely on his age as it was when he committed the crime
    Cristian Fernandez pleaded guilty to manslaughter and aggravated battery in the death of his 2-year-old half brother.

    If Fernandez adheres to the conditions of the plea agreement, the 13-year-old will be released from the Department of Juvenile Justice on his 19th birthday in January 2018. Since he was arrested in 2011, that means he would have served 7 years on the manslaughter charge once the sentence is complete.

    http://jacksonville.com/news/crime/2...h-half-brother
    An uninformed opponent is a dangerous opponent.

    "Y'all be makin shit up" ~ Markeith Loyd

  8. #8
    Member Member alexisidem's Avatar
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    Heidi, I am not sure if I understood correctly... should this young boy adhere to the plea agreement, will he be completely released on his 19th birthday and walk free? if yes, it seems Florida does give his citizens a second chance and that is fair... and should this be the case... will this boy be followed by psychologists or some counselor, will he attend a school, will he be prepared to go back to the "normality" in the meantime, beeing the society sure he won't fail again?

  9. #9
    Daisy
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    yes, Heidi.....assuming that Fernandez IS released in January 2018, will there be conditions placed upon his gaining freedom? I assume that whilst in the institution he'd have had counselling or some form of 'treatmemt' psychologically. I wish him well for the future but curiosity begs the question as to how (if at all) he will be in any way monitored after his release.

  10. #10
    Member Member Gooch33's Avatar
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    Juvenile corrections are handled completely differently than adult corrections. Once a minor has reached a certain age, they are fully released into society. Their crimes are sealed as a minor. The only way he can be treated differently is if he was tried as an adult, and no DA would try an 11 yr old boy as an adult unless the crime is exceptionally heinous...and even that isn't a given.

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