LOS ANGELES (WSVN) — A man is now on trial after prosecutors accused him of torturing an 8-year-old boy to death be cause he thought he was gay.
Thirty-two-year-old Isauro Aguirre faces a charge of murder with a special circumstance of torture, Fox 5 reports. The defense attorney said his client “exploded in rage” after the boy reportedly told his mother to leave Aguirre, according to KTLA.
According to Prosecutor Jon Hatami, Aguirre and his girlfriend Pearl Fernandez tortured Fernandez’s son Gabriel. Hatami says the couple beat the boy, bit him, burned him with cigarettes, whipped him, shot him with a B.B. gun, starved him, fed him cat litter and kept him gagged and bound in this cubby until he was found on May 22, 2013. Gabriel died at the hospital two days later.
Hatami also said that Aguirre made Gabriel dress up in girls’ clothes and go to school, and that the reason for the treatment is that Aguirre just didn’t like Gabriel and thought the boy was gay.
“Gabriel’s last vision was that man over there standing over Gabriel, beating him to death,” Hatami said.
The station reports that Aguirre’s attorney John Allan said his client had a hard time handling stressful and chaotic situations.
“He is guilty of murder, but the special circumstance alleged, that he intended kill Gabriel with the infliction of torture, is not true,” Allan told Fox 5. “Despite the horrific abuse, Isauro never intended for Gabriel to die.”
However, Hatami showed the jury text messages between Aguirre and the boy’s mother and said they prove the couple conspired together to torture and kill Gabriel.
Aguirre’s trial is expected to last about eight weeks,
Fernandez will be tried separately for her role in her son’s death.
Copyright 2024 Sunbeam Television Corp. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.