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Fresno County Releases Internal Report On Seth Ireland Death

Fresno County

Fresno County has released a controversial report into the 2009 death of Seth Ireland. The 10 year-old died after he was severely beaten by his mother's boyfriend. County social workers had investigated complaints regarding the family at least four times in the year before the boy's death. 

The report was an internal review of actions by the county's Department of Children and Family Services. It details how individual social workers evaluated the case, including some instances where they didn't follow protocol, or act swiftly enough. 

The existence of the report was not known outside the county until a civil lawsuit was brought by Ireland's father. The county argued that state law allows the county to keep the document confidential, but a judge disagreed, and earlier this year ordered the county to release an un-redacted copy of the report. 

The civil case against the county is on-going after a court threw out a $5.5  million judgment for the plaintiffs last year, pending a new trial. 

County officials Wednesday bristled at local media attention surrounding the county's refusal to release the report, claiming that negative coverage in The Fresno Bee has "made it impossible" for the county to receive a fair trial. The county says it had legal grounds for not releasing the report and wasn't attempting to hide evidence. 

Joe Moore is the President and General Manager of KVPR / Valley Public Radio. He has led the station through major programming changes, the launch of KVPR Classical and the COVID-19 pandemic. Under his leadership the station was named California Non-Profit of the Year by Senator Melissa Hurtado (2019), and won a National Edward R. Murrow Award for investigative reporting (2022).