Man Burned by Wife Over Candy Dies of Pneumonia

Paul Carter, the 64-year-old cancer patient whose caretaker wife set him on fire two years ago after he ate one of her chocolates, has died of pneumonia, authorities said Friday.

According to the county coroner’s office, Carter’s death Thursday was unrelated to the serious burns he suffered in 1992. Carter died at Western Medical Center-Santa Ana.

Carter had been in the continual care of doctors since April 16, 1992, the day his wife, June--tired of bickering with her husband and stressed out after years of taking care of him around the clock--snapped.

Carter had a rare form of breast cancer that had spread to his lungs and bones and was inoperable. He was also partially paralyzed.

According to court records, his small, frail wife of 30 years had come home from a trip to the store to find that he had eaten her Easter chocolate bunny.

Enraged, the woman poured rubbing alcohol on her husband and lit a match. Paul Carter sustained second- and third-degree burns over 20% of his body.

Originally charged with attempted murder, June Carter, then 69, pleaded guilty in July, 1992, to felony elder abuse and was sentenced to a year in jail and five years’ probation. But because of good behavior, she served only nine months at the Central Women’s Jail in Santa Ana, according to the Orange County district attorney’s office.

Efforts to reach June Carter Friday were unsuccessful.

Authorities, in the meantime, are assessing possible criminal ramifications from Paul Carter’s death.

Santa Ana police Lt. Bob Helton said that despite Carter’s death from natural causes, “a death not related to (the burns) . . . we’ll still run the case by the district attorney’s office.”

Deputy Dist. Atty. Rosanne Froeberg, who prosecuted June Carter, said she did not have enough information to decide if further legal action is warranted.

But Deputy Coroner William King said there was no reason to believe prosecutors could make a case against June Carter based on Thursday’s autopsy.