Man Murders Girlfriend's 8-Year-Old Son After Believing He Was Gay

The trial has begun for a California man accused of abusing and murdering his girlfriend's 8-year-old son — allegedly because he thought the boy was gay.

Gabriel Fernandez was burned and beaten before his death, sustaining a fractured skull and broken ribs, prosecutor Jonathan Hatami told a jury Monday, the Los Angeles Daily News reports.

He alleges that the child was starved and tied up, fed cat litter and was forced to eat his own vomit, shot with a BB gun and sprayed with pepper spray as a form of "systematic torture."

The boy was hospitalized after being found by first responders gagged and bound in a cabinet, then he died two days later on May 24, 2013.

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"The evidence will show that the defendant is nothing more than a bully," Hatami said. "He was a security guard who intentionally tortured and abused a helpless and innocent little boy."

The defendant, 37-year-old Isauro Aguirre, is charged with murder of his girlfriend's son and faces the death penalty. Gabriel's mother, Pearl Fernandez, 34, is also charged with murder in a separate trial.

In opening statements of Aguirre's trial, Hatami revealed that the man's motive was "out of hatred" that the boy may be gay.

"This wasn't about drugs. This wasn't about mental health issues," the prosecutor said. "[Aguirre] did it because he didn't like [Gabriel]… he believed Gabriel was gay and to him that was a bad thing… he did it out of hatred of a little boy."

Hatami continued to describe the child as "happy and healthy" before moving from his grandparents' house to live with Fernandez and Aguirre, just eight months before his death. The couple told police that Gabriel "liked to hit himself, he was gay and he wanted to kill himself," Hatami informed the jury.

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Aguirre's defense attorney John Alan acknowledges that he tortured the boy and even told he jury "he is guilty of murder," but his camp claims evidence shows "Isauro never intended for Gabriel to die." Because of this, they plan to make a case that he should not have been charges with a special circumstance allegations that allows the death penalty to be declared.

He denies the prosecutions "gay" motive, telling the jury Aguirre flew into a rage after the boy told his mom to leave him.

Gabriel death triggered investigations into four Los Angeles County social workers were were assigned to the boy after signs of child abuse weren't filed and his absence from school wasn't investigated.

He was "withheld from school by the defendants for the last three weeks before he was murdered," Hatami said.

The investigation resulted in criminal charges of child abuse and falsifying public records being filed against two former social workers and two supervisors.