Judge Halts Forced Feeding of Defendant

With a murder defendant who was on a hunger strike looking markedly healthier than he did last week, a Superior Court judge Monday ordered a halt to the forced feeding of the man.

Jonathan D’Arcy, 34, appeared disheveled but sounded lucid during a brief court appearance Monday during which Superior Court Judge David O. Carter called off the defendant’s forced feeding by intravenous tube after six days. D’Arcy, who is protesting his lawyer’s handling of his case, had been on a 13-day hunger strike when jailers began the feedings.

D’Arcy vowed to resume his hunger strike, his lawyer said; the judge promised to reinstate the feedings if he does.

D’Arcy faces the death penalty if convicted of charges that he set a Tustin bookkeeper on fire three years ago.

Carter said he ordered the forced feedings because he wanted to make sure D’Arcy, who reportedly lost 20 pounds during his strike, “doesn’t fall into a state of incompetency,” which could disrupt the trial.

“I don’t want you in a delirious or comatose condition,” Carter told D’Arcy.

D’Arcy’s trial resumed Monday afternoon before Superior Court Judge Robert R. Fitzgerald, but the defendant was not in court. Earlier, he told the judge that he wanted “nothing to do with this trial.”

Prosecutors contend D’Arcy was seeking revenge Feb. 2, 1993, when he doused 42-year-old Karen Marie LaBorde with gasoline and set her on fire with a cigarette lighter. LaBorde, who worked for a building maintenance company that employed D’Arcy, identified him as her assailant before she died.

D’Arcy has denied igniting the woman and claims that investigators botched evidence showing that a space heater ignited the flames.