A transient pleaded guilty today to murder and arson charges for throwing a flammable substance into a vehicle in which a 63-year-old man was sitting outside a Long Beach convenience store nearly nine years ago.
Raymond Sean Clark, now 47, is facing 25 years to life in state prison in connection with his plea to one count each of first-degree murder and arson causing great bodily injury, according to Ricardo Santiago with the LosAngeles County District Attorney’s Office.
Clark threw a flammable substance through the driver’s side window of the vehicle in the parking lot of a 7-Eleven store in the 5100 block of Pacific Coast Highway on April 12, 2013, police said shortly afterward.
A number of people came to the aid of Jerry Payne by extinguishing the flames, but he died three days later.
Clark was arrested about a block from the scene, after witnesses pointed him out to arriving officers, police said.
The motive for the attack was unclear, according to Santiago.
Clark has remained behind bars since his arrest, jail records show. He is set to be sentenced March 30 in a Long Beach courtroom.
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