El Cajon

A former resident of the Linda Turman Guest Home who started a fire that killed three other residents was ordered Tuesday to undergo a diagnostic study at Chino State Prison.

San Diego Superior Court Judge Wayne Peterson ordered David Allen Giles, 20, to have the 90-day study performed and then report back to him June 15 for sentencing. Peterson said he was reluctant to sentence Giles, who is mildly mentally retarded, to state prison without studying other options.

Giles’ attorney, William Youmans, had suggested that Giles be sentenced to a locked psychiatric facility in Alpine rather than to prison.

Giles pleaded guilty Feb. 17 to three counts of involuntary manslaughter stemming from the Feb. 6, 1986, fire, which killed Patty Melton, 33; Pietra Carrao, 47, and Mark Buis, 33.

Buis’ widow, Debbie Buis, 34, told Peterson she didn’t want Giles to serve any more time in jail. She was critically injured in the fire but has mostly recovered.

“I really don’t think that he should be sent to prison,” she said. “David and I and my husband were friends for a long time.”

The judge noted that Giles’ IQ is 80 and that he suffers from schizophrenia.

“You have spent most of your life in one institution or another,” Peterson said. “It has not improved your condition or avoided this tragedy.”

Serving a two-year state prison sentence is the El Cajon home’s former manager, Nayoma Raleigh, 41, who was convicted Oct. 24 of two counts of involuntary manslaughter. Superior Court Judge William Kennedy has set a hearing next month to review and possibly reduce her sentence.