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Couple Accused Of Killing 8-Year-Old Boy Turn On Each Other In Court

LANCASTER (CBSLA.com)   —  A Palmdale couple accused in the beating death of the woman's 8-year-old boy seemed to turn on each other in court Wednesday.

A pretrial hearing for Pearl Sinthia Fernandez and Isauro Aguirre was delayed until Feb. 11. but not before the two have turned on each other.

The boy, Gabriel Fernandez, was severely beaten according to grand jury testimony. Before he died, the boy suffered a broken skull, broken ribs, BB pellets were embedded in his lungs and groin and he had been pepper-sprayed.

A paramedic who treated the boy told the grand jury that it looked like very inch of the child had been the subject of abuse.

The boy's mother and her boyfriend are charged in his murder.

KCAL9's Dave Lopez said the judge inquired whether there might be a plea deal in the case. He questioned whether both defendants would agree to plead guilty in order to avoid a death penalty charge.

After the lawyers said there would be no deal made, at this point, Fernandez lashed out.

"Why do you have to spread rumors, huh?" she angrily asked Aguirre. "Why do you got to tell them that you didn't go and kill my baby, huh?"

The judge warned her to be quiet.

He excused Aguirre from the court room. The judge asked Fernandez to respond to him and she remained silent.

Lopez said Aguirre apparently wants to make a deal that would send him to prison for life and that Fernandez wants a trial claiming that she did nothing wrong.

"One is trying to play the innocent role," said Fernandez's cousin Emily Carranza, "that they had no part in it. They just either have to woman up, or man up, and take that deal and just get on with it."

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