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The early morning fire on Dec. 1, 2025, came among a series of
attacks with people set on fire on public transit across the
U.S.
In a presentence submission, prosecutors requested he serve up
to eight years in prison, saying Carrero's “heinous actions”
left the man, who was sleeping at the time, critically injured
and with permanent extensive scarring and disfigurement.
During his guilty plea, Carrero admitted that he intentionally
ignited a piece of paper that harmed the man.
In court papers, prosecutors said Carrero tried to kill “a
sleeping, homeless man by burning him alive and leaving him
trapped on a moving subway car.”
They said the man's life was saved only because emergency
personnel reached him quickly after a “mercifully short trip”
from Penn Station at 34th Street to Times Square.
The crime, prosecutors said, was “separated from murder by mere
chance,” and they were critical of his explanation that he had
been drinking and smoked marijuana that day.
In seeking leniency for her client, defense lawyer Jennifer
Brown noted in court papers that he'd had a troubled past,
starting when he was born prematurely with drugs in his system
and was abandoned by his biological parents at the hospital
after his birth.
Intellectually challenged, “things fell apart for him” when the
pandemic struck in 2020, eliminating his ability to attend
school, the lawyer wrote.
“Words are inadequate to express the profound shame and remorse
that Hiram feels,” Brown said.
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