Man Who Set Fire to Woman Given Death Penalty

A jury deliberated less than a day before deciding Wednesday that a Buena Park janitor should be executed for dousing a bookkeeper with gasoline and burning her to death in a dispute over a paycheck.

Just hours earlier, as jurors were still considering his fate, Jonathan D’Arcy announced he will end an unusual months-long hunger strike that had raised legal questions about keeping a man alive who ultimately may be executed.

This was the second jury to consider whether D’Arcy, who boycotted his trial, should be sentenced to death for the 1993 slaying of Karen Marie LaBorde in her Tustin business office. A previous jury found the 34-year-old defendant guilty of first-degree murder, torture and other charges, but deadlocked 10 to 2 in favor of a death sentence.

This time, jurors said they agreed on a death sentence almost from the start of their deliberations. They cited the heinous nature of the crime, and said they believed D’Arcy knew what he was doing despite any mental problems he may suffer.

“The main thing was the circumstances of the crime,” said one juror, an Irvine man who asked that his name not be used. “They were astonishing.”

LaBorde’s sister-in-law, Diana Leier, 38, sat in the back row of the courtroom and broke into tears after the verdict was read. She was barely able to speak outside the courtroom.

“I just want to thank the jury,” she said tearfully. “I think the verdict was just. I felt that is what he deserved.”

Juror George Serna, 47, said there were “no excuses” for D’Arcy’s actions.

“I think you should step up and be responsible for your actions and treat others as you’d have them treat you,” said Serna of Westminster. “Jonathan D’Arcy deserved this.”

Another juror, Sherry Parker, 42, said the evidence against D’Arcy was “overwhelming” and the nature of the crime made the trial very difficult to sit through.

“It was very tough,” said Parker, of Anaheim. “We’re all glad it’s over. It’s a very hard thing to have to do.”

Deputy Dist. Atty. Robert Molko described the crime as “the most atrocious way of killing” and said the death sentence was “appropriate.”

The prosecutor alleged during trial that D’Arcy was seeking revenge over a paycheck he believed was being withheld when he doused LaBorde, 42, with gasoline and set her on fire with a cigarette lighter on Feb. 2, 1993.

LaBorde, who worked for a Tustin building maintenance company that employed D’Arcy, suffered severe burns over most of her body and died about eight hours later.

Amid moans of agony in a hospital emergency room, the victim was able to describe to police what D’Arcy had done to her with the gasoline and lighter. She also told them that the paycheck was D’Arcy’s for the asking. Her tape-recorded statement was played during both trials.

Defense attorney George A. Peters had argued his client suffers from severe, paranoid-type mental problems, and should be sentenced to life in prison without parole.

“It is a horrendous crime, and I’ve been doing this a long time. It ranks way up there,” Peters said. “But on the other side, you have substantial evidence of early, early mental illness, as early as 8 years old.”

Throughout both trials, D’Arcy objected to his court-appointed lawyer using evidence of his mental problems as a defense. He contended evidence showed a space heater ignited the fire.

Only hours before the verdict was reached Wednesday, D’Arcy made an appearance in court to say he was ending the hunger strike, which he began Nov. 13 as a protest.

The defendant, with a feeding tube connected to his nose, told Orange County Superior Court Judge Robert R. Fitzgerald he had been feeling weak and will resume eating solid foods.

“I’m pleased that you made the decision to resume eating,” Fitzgerald said.

Another judge had ordered jail medical officials to force-feed D’Arcy as needed throughout both trials, to prevent the defendant from falling into a state of mental incompetence that would disrupt court proceedings.

At one point during the early stages of his second trial, D’Arcy had sought unsuccessfully to “stipulate to death” in a reported effort to receive new, appellate representation.

More recently, D’Arcy indicated in handwritten court papers that he will seek a new trial and wants to act as his own attorney. Earlier this week, Judge Fitzgerald warned D’Arcy that the hunger strike would not help in his efforts to represent himself, which he has done in earlier stages of his case.

D’Arcy is expected to argue his motions April 11, also the date of his sentencing. Death penalty cases are also subject to automatic appeals.