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LOS ANGELES (CNS) - A state appeals court panel Tuesday rejected a man's challenge to his sentence of two consecutive life prison terms for nearly killing his wife with a chainsaw in front of their three young children in Whittier.
The three-justice panel from California's 2nd District Court of Appeal found that the record provides "ample justification for the trial court's sentencing decisions" involving Alejandro Villegas Alvarez.
Alvarez, now 37, was convicted during a non-jury trial of attempted murder and mayhem involving the July 11, 2018, attack on his wife, along with child abuse under circumstances likely to produce great bodily injury or death involving their three children.
In its 18-page ruling, the appellate court panel cited the manner in which Alvarez "repeatedly and relentlessly attacked his unarmed and defenseless wife with a chainsaw in front of their three young children." The justices noted that the couple's then-5-year-old son tried to "physically shield his mother to try to protect her from his chainsaw-wielding father."
The defendant had walked up to his wife -- whose back was turned -- and started the chainsaw, lowering it into the back of her head and cutting her scalp, according to the ruling. The chainsaw stalled after getting caught in the woman's hair, and she suffered about 50 cuts in her face and left hand when he lowered the chainsaw after she slipped in her own blood, the justices noted.
The victim screamed for her children to run for help, and her husband grabbed her hair with both hands and bashed her head against the floor after the chainsaw turned off, according to the ruling.
The woman had to undergo several surgeries after the attack and has been left with extensive scarring and limited movement of her left hand, the justices noted.
Alvarez was arrested a day later in Chula Vista by the San Diego County Sheriff's Department.