A Redondo Beach man was sentenced Friday to 35 years to life in state prison for fatally shooting the mother of his 8-month-old son during a domestic dispute.
Roy Pena Rodriguez Jr., 25, pleaded no contest last Nov. 13 to first-degree murder for the slaying of Paige Chiarello.
The 21-year-old woman was shot in the head on Aug. 12, 2015, during a domestic dispute at the Redondo Beach home of her grandfather, who called 911. She died at a hospital early the following day.
In a letter read in court by the prosecutor, the victim’s grandparents, Edith and Larry Stepanian, wrote that their granddaughter was a “sweet, beautiful, thoughtful, kind and considerate young woman with her whole life ahead of her” and that she had “dreams of becoming a nurse so she could help others in need.”
“There are no words to express our heartache,” they wrote. “We suffer daily with what you did to our granddaughter, our family, our home and our lives. We hope you are never allowed out of prison for the safety and sake of all humans, especially women. People like you need to be kept locked up and away from society, placed in cages like other animals.”
Rodriguez was arrested after a half-hour standoff.