A trial date has been set for the Lompoc man accused of setting his father on fire, leading to the man’s death due to his bad burns and injuring a dog nearly four years ago.

Joseph Ashley Garcia, 43, has been charged with murder and felony animal cruelty charges, along with a special circumstance of torture. 

Garcia was arrested after the June 11, 2022, attack that critically injured his father, 68-year-old Joseph Michael Garcia, who died days later from his injuries.

Officers responded at 3:30 p.m. that day to a residence on the 200 block of North D Street to a report of a father and son fighting, according to the Lompoc Police Department. 

When police entered the residence, they found the father’s upper body engulfed in flames, and said he poured juice over his head in an attempt to extinguish the flames. 

Burn injuries covered 30% of his body, and he had sepsis and acute respiratory failure all related to his burn injuries. 

The father’s dog had been sitting on his lap and fled from the house, but was captured and ultimately cared for by a Los Alamos resident, who found a new home for the healed canine.

A preliminary hearing concluded in October 2023, with a judge ordering Garcia to stand trial on the charges.

After meeting with Senior Deputy Attorney Madison Whitmore and defense attorney George Steele in chambers, Judge Stephen Dunkle vacated a late January date for the trial’s start.

Dunkle instead set March 9 as the day to begin jury selection for Garcia’s trial.

Attorneys have estimated that the trial will last 15 days.

The judge also scheduled a trial confirmation conference for Feb. 18.

Garcia remains in the custody without bail at the Santa Barbara County Jail.