College Park man gets 200-plus years for burning girlfriend

By David Ibata

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

A College Park man, found guilty Friday of dousing his girlfriend with gasoline and setting her on fire, has been was sentenced to more than 200 years in prison.

In its second day of deliberations, a Clayton County jury convicted Orville Brooks in the attack against Tara Best in their apartment last January.

The 30-year-old Brooks was convicted on 14 counts, including aggravated battery and criminal intent to commit murder, Channel 2 Action News reported.

Clayton County Judge Geronda Carter sentenced Brooks to 205 years in a penitentiary.

A tearful Best heard the jury’s sentence. The 21-year-old woman told Channel 2, “I just felt like maybe he didn't have any remorse and he really didn't love me if he could do something like this so hurtful, so cruel to me.”

During the sentencing hearing that immediately followed the jury verdict, the woman’s father, Rodney Best, told the court, “It was a monstrous act performed on my daughter on that day.”

The victim’s mother, Nicole Ramsey, said, “I’m asking that the judge impose the max on him today.”

Brooks, who had no reaction when the jury verdict was read, said during the sentencing phase of his trial, “I'm sorry that it happened. It was accidental.”

Carter told Tara Best, “This incident did not kill you physically. Don't let it kill you mentally and emotionally.”

During the trial, Best testified that Brooks was abusive and jealous and became angry after she came home late from work. He began beating her and then placed her in the bathtub of their apartment. That’s when she noticed him with a gas can.

“I can just remember him pouring it on me and saying stuff, and I'm just pleading with him not to do it,” Best said. “He lit the match and threw it on me.”

Seventy percent of her body was burned – 40 percent were third-degree burns – and the woman spent three months on life support.

Defense attorney Rand Csehy contended the fire was an accident, and that Brooks never “doused” the woman, but poured gasoline on himself and his girlfriend. When he flicked a lighter to scare her, gas vapors ignited, the lawyer said.

Outside the courtroom, Best told Channel 2, “I feel like it was a great outcome, and I feel like I truly impacted young girls’ lives today.”