Death Sentence For Man Who Set Mom On Fire In Coachella Valley

COACHELLA VALLEY, CA -- After less than an hour of deliberations, a jury on Tuesday recommended that a man be sentenced to death for killing his mother by dousing her with gasoline and setting her on fire outside her workplace in Indio.

Israel Ramirez Guardado, 38, of Salt Lake City, was convicted Dec. 2 of first-degree murder for the Jan. 26, 2018, attack on his 61-year-old mother, Francisca Ramirez, over what prosecutors said was a disagreement over the custody of Guardado's oldest daughter.

Guardado acted as his own attorney during the trial and told jurors repeatedly that he would accept whatever decision they make regarding his guilt and punishment.

Ramirez suffered second- and third-degree burns over more than half of her body in the attack and died almost a month later.

After the defendant set fire to his mother, he drove to the Indio jail to surrender, telling an employee, ``I came to turn myself in. I just set a woman on fire.''

The victim also pointed to her son as the man responsible for lighting her on fire to an Indio police detective who interviewed her while she was at JFK Medical Center on the day of the incident, prosecutors said. She told the detective her son had set her ablaze because he was angry over the child custody arrangement involving his daughter, according to court documents.

City News Service contributed to this report.