Their case was tragic, troubling and historic. In 2011 Cristian Fernandez, standing barely 5 feet tall at 12 years old, beat his toddler half-brother so severely that he spent two days on life support before dying.
He would become the youngest person in Jacksonville history charged with first-degree murder. His mother, who gave birth to him at 12 years old herself, also faced charges. A who’s who team of attorneys for both sides agreed Fernandez could plead to lesser charges to allow him to be sentenced under juvenile sanctions and released when he turned 19. Mother Biannela Susana, who neglected to get her dying son to a hospital sooner and covered up past violence, also avoided a prison sentence after being credited for two years and four months of time served and put on probation.
Today they are both back in trouble with the law, and both had court appearances scheduled for Tuesday, Sept. 1, for separate cases in St. Johns County. However, Fernandez’s pre-trial hearing was pushed back to Sept. 29.
What became of Cristian Fernandez?
Fernandez, now 27 with the same address as his mother in St. Augustine, was scheduled for a Sept. 1 pretrial hearing for his Nov. 22, 2025, charges of resisting an officer with violence and two counts of battery on an officer. It occurred at about 11 a.m. at the RaceTrac gas station at 2838 W. County Road 210…