Man Gets Life in Chain Saw Killing

With his own daughter calling for no mercy, a man who attacked his estranged wife with a chain saw and set her on fire was sentenced Friday to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Carlos Hernandez Romo, 36, admitted fatally injuring his wife with a gas-powered saw and injuring her boyfriend, who suffered cuts to the torso.

Yoselin Maya, Romo’s 13-year-old daughter, told Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Andrew C. Kauffman in a written statement that her father should go to prison.

“I don’t feel like calling you Dad or Father because I think I can’t accept you as either one,” the statement read. “I want you to think for a minute and say to yourself, ‘What did I do to my children’s lives?’ ”

Yoselin made her call for no mercy through the prosecutor, Deputy Dist. Atty. Mary Suzukawa. Yoselin said she didn’t have a chance to see her mother before she died.

“I don’t want to hurt your feelings, but I wish that you would stay in jail for the rest of your life.... I can’t do anything but to think of my mom. Why did you do that to my mom?” she said.

Romo avoided the possibility of execution by pleading guilty in a plea bargain worked out earlier this year.

Romo’s estranged wife, Paz Maya Romo, died two weeks after the attack in a Lennox neighborhood last year. She suffered cuts on her head and body and was burned over 90% of her body. Her companion, Fredy Flores, survived his injuries.