The Region : Arson Murderer Given Death Sentence

A Canoga Park man convicted of the 1982 arson murder of his therapist’s husband has been sentenced to death. John William Clark, 40, intended to kill David Gawronski, 35, in order to make the victim’s wife suffer because she had discontinued her psychiatric counseling sessions with him, said Santa Monica Superior Court Judge Harry Mock Jr., who imposed the death penalty on Clark. Gawronski’s wife, Ava, now 35, was badly burned in the fire that Clark deliberately set at the couple’s Rancho Park home. Clark also was convicted of attempting to murder Ava Gawronski and her daughter Sara, now 3 1/2, who escaped injury in the fire. In addition, Clark was found guilty of raping his own wife and of attempting to rape Ava Gawronski.