Tacoma, WA. - A Lakewood man was sentenced to 34 years in prison after pleading guilty to the murder of his two-month-old son. Fernandez Furean admitted to severely injuring the infant, Fernandez Jr., by shaking him for 5 minutes straight because the child would not stop crying.
Family members of the victim packed the courtroom for the sentencing hearing. The victim’s aunt, Mia McFarland, spoke about the family’s loss and remembered meeting her nephew in the hospital in 2024 before he passed away. Following his death, Fernandez Jr. served as an organ donor.
During the court proceedings, McFarland addressed the family’s lasting grief.
“There still will always be a whole of a life that could’ve been lived,” McFarland said. She also recalled the moment the family saw the infant, adding, “So, we all got to meet him for the first time in the hospital as he was dying.” Addressing Fruean directly in court, McFarland asked, “Why did your ego convince you that you could raise another child or that anything would be different?”
Before receiving his sentence, Fruean addressed the court and the victim’s family about his actions.
“By doing that, I need to do anything to be a better person and to also, if I get out in that time, to reconcile with the families,” he said.
Information presented in court also established that Fruean abused his young daughter years ago. That child is now in the custody of another family member.
The sentencing judge commented on the severity of the crime before delivering the prison term. “And for 20 years, I represented people who did those terrible things. But doing this to your own child to me is unfathomable,” the judge said.
McFarland expressed mixed emotions regarding the sentence and the possibility of Fruean’s eventual release. “It hurts to know that there’s a chance that one day he will be out of prison and roaming the streets again,” McFarland said.
Despite her concerns, she emphasized the importance of securing accountability. “And that is really the most important thing today is for these children giving them the voice they either don’t have or lost,” McFarland said.
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