LITTLEROCK : Son Convicted of Murder in Fire Death of Retired Officer
A jury in Downtown Los Angeles found a former convict guilty of first-degree murder Tuesday in the 1993 arson death of his father, a retired police officer who claimed he was the inspiration for the “T.J. Hooker” television series.
Retired Sgt. Thomas Warren Hooker--once awarded the Los Angeles Police Department’s Medal of Valor for rescuing others from a burning building--died after his son allegedly set fire to Hooker’s Littlerock home in a scheme to collect insurance money.
Prosecutors said David Hooker and his stepmother, Joy, watched the fire burn for 45 minutes to an hour but made no attempt to save the bedridden man, who was 58 and was so ravaged by diabetes that he was legally blind and feeble from kidney dialysis sessions.
After 10 days of deliberation, the jury convicted Hooker, 33, of murder and two counts of arson in his father’s April 19, 1993, death.
Authorities say David and Joy Hooker admitted that they had planned to collect insurance money to save the house from foreclosure but denied intentionally killing Thomas Hooker, saying they assumed he would escape on his own.
Joy Hooker, 51, is scheduled to go on trial in Lancaster June 28 on murder and arson charges.
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