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LONG BEACH (CNS) - A transient who pleaded no contest to murder and arson charges for throwing a flammable substance into a vehicle in which a man was sitting in Long Beach was sentenced Thursday to 25 years to life in state prison.
Raymond Sean Clark, now 48, pleaded no contest in January 2022 to one count each of first-degree murder and arson causing great bodily injury involving the April 12, 2013, attack on 63-year-old Jerry Payne.
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, 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.
Clark has remained behind bars since his arrest, according to jail records.