'Her torturer': Mom who killed girl gets 39 years

Telling a judge "we all make mistakes," a Maine Township mother apologized Thursday for fatally beating her 5-year-old daughter after the youngster vomited in the family's apartment.

"I wanted to tell you I'm really sorry," 32-year-old Mila Petrov told Cook County Judge Garritt Howard. "I know that God forgives me. We all make mistakes."

The apology apparently did little to sway Howard, who sentenced Petrov to 39 years in prison for the March 13, 2007, beating that took Melanie Beltran's life.

Howard excoriated Petrov for her actions, citing a litany of prior abuse endured by the little girl before her death -- including repeated beatings by Petrov and other family members. "You failed miserably in living up to even a minimal standard of decency," Howard told Petrov as she sat somberly in the Skokie courtroom. "You turned out to be her torturer and ultimately the person who caused her death."

Melanie had burns, cuts and bruises indicating she had been tied up, as well as two black eyes at the time of her death, Cook County Medical Examiner Nancy Jones testified during the sentencing hearing. As Jones displayed photos depicting the injuries, Petrov kept her head down and her eyes averted from the gruesome images.

But burn scars and other marks on the 3-foot 3-inch-tall girl showed a long-term pattern of abuse, Jones said.

Petrov faced up to 100 years in prison after pleading guilty last month to first-degree murder. She escaped a harsher sentence because she took responsibility by pleading guilty, Howard said, adding he also didn't think the pregnant mother of eight young children meant to kill Melanie.

"I do not believe you were acting with a specific intent to kill. I think this was done out of anger," Howard told Petrov.

Prosecutor Rick Cenar described how an angry Petrov rammed Melanie's head into a wall after the little girl vomited. Petrov then struck her daughter again, banging her head against the floor.

When paramedics first questioned her about the girl's injuries, Petrov first blamed her 10-year-old daughter for harming Melanie, Cenar said.