Transient sentenced in fatal beating of 100-year-old man

A transient in the Central Valley has been sentenced to nearly three decades in prison for beating a 100-year-old man to death during a home invasion.

David Anthony Romero, 47, pleaded no contest to beating Joe Fischer after breaking into his Sanger, Calif., home Aug. 8, the Fresno Bee reported. Fischer man died three days later at a hospital of blunt-force trauma.

Romero was given the 29-year sentence Friday as part of a plea deal that included punishment for other crimes dating back 15 years, including burglary, assault and false imprisonment, the newspaper reported.

Romero offered an apology during his sentencing hearing, but the judge, Fresno County Superior Court Judge Gary Hoff, didn't find it genuine and castigated the defendant in court.

"Rather than steal from him, you stole his life, liberty and happiness," Hoff said, according to the Bee.

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-- Rick Rojas