Opinion ID: 2586480
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: The victim's dying declaration and death

Text: Around 9:00 a.m., Laborde was flown to the University of California at Irvine Medical Center. She had suffered third-degree burns on approximately 90 percent of her body. The heat and fumes from the flames had caused severe swelling inside her mouth and the lining of her airways. Laborde's doctor, Daniel Ng, M.D., told her that her injuries were nearly 100 percent likely to be fatal. Laborde declined medical treatment and indicated she wanted only comfort measures including pain medication. She required administration of over 30 milligrams of morphine per hour for over one or two hours to reduce the intensity of her pain and make her comfortable. [3] Laborde died at 4:45 p.m. that day. Laborde's doctor opined that if she had survived, she would have been disfigured and might have lost limbs. While Laborde was in the hospital, Officer Douglas Finney of the Tustin Police Department asked her how she was injured and recorded her answers. [4] She said that [Jon D'Arcy] threw this cup of ... fluid ... I guess it was gas ... he threw it all over me and then he lit me with a [c]igarette lighter that he held in his hand. Laborde stated that defendant deliberately went for me. She said that she was unable to escape because she had no room to move. She had a check for defendant on a desk and would have given it to him had he asked for it. The parties stipulated that, before Laborde was taken from the scene by paramedics, a check made out to defendant for the sum of $159, and dated January 31, 1993, was located on a desk in her office.