Woman fights back after devastating attack

Kim Smith

Friday, March 15, 2002 | 10:43 a.m.

When Diane Baptist awoke after a monthlong coma brought on by third-degree burns, she didn't pause for a second to look in the mirror. Pitying herself would take too much time away from rebuilding her life, she decided.

"If you sit around and mope and cry, you'll never get healed," Baptist, 49, said.

Baptist's philosophy is what has gotten her through the past five months since an assailant doused her with gasoline and lit a match. It's what helped her through the recent trial and conviction of Oscar Stanley for the assault, and it will be what sees her through many more surgeries and rehabilitation sessions.

Baptist and her husband, Manuel, 53, were on-site managers for the High Hat Motel, 1300 Las Vegas Blvd. South. On Oct. 25 Stanley, a former tenant who had been evicted, followed her into her office, carrying a brown paper bag.

"When I turned around he was staring at me with a water bottle in his hand," Baptist said. "When I said, 'Can I help you?' He said, 'I'm not paying you. I'm not paying you,' and he squirted me and he squirted me again.' "

Stanley, 38, then threw a match.

The bottle held gasoline, and Baptist went up in flames.

As she struggled toward the door she tried to shrug out of her fuel-soaked blouse.

Once outside Baptist dropped to the asphalt near a water faucet and began rolling around. Screaming for help, Baptist said she saw Stanley watching her and another man open his motel door and shut it -- twice.

"I got angry as to why no one was helping me," Baptist said. "I felt no pain, maybe because of the shock, but I did feel angry. I think it's maybe because of that anger that I managed to get to the water faucet to splash myself."

By the time Metro Police and the fire department arrived, Stanley had left. It was later learned that he had come to the motel to collect belongings he had left in a storage room, but he didn't have the $15 to $20 storage fee.

"A measly $15 to $20," Manuel Baptist said. "If I'd known this was going to happen, I would have said, 'Just take it.' "

Prosecutors Stacy Kollins and Taleen Pandukht told jurors that the assault was part of a downtown crime spree Stanley went on that day.

Four hours before the fire Stanley robbed a man of his wallet, punched him and then stole his van, the jury was told.

Ninety minutes after the fire, prosecutors said, Stanley punched a Budget Inn clerk in the face and stole $300 from her register. Stanley was chased from the motel but was caught trying to yank an 83-year-old passer-by from the man's vehicle in an effort to flee the area.

On Wednesday Stanley was convicted on eight of 11 charges. He could face a life term when sentenced April 26.

After the assault Baptist remained alert until a short time after she arrived at the hospital. She spent the next six weeks in a coma and, with second- and third-degree burns over 50 percent of her body, was not expected to survive.

Family members came from Hawaii and California to say goodbye and Manuel, her husband of 34 years, was a constant presence.

"I couldn't sleep for thinking about her," Manuel said. "I didn't know if she was going to make it through the nights. It was really touch and go at times."

Baptist awoke from the coma in mid-December.

"My son said that the first thing I said was that I wanted to go out and smoke a cigarette, but I don't remember that," Baptist said.

The first few weeks after she woke up were punctuated by hallucinations brought on by pain medications. Baptist said she can recall being frightened all of the time, thinking the shadows were Stanley returning to finish her off.

"I thought I saw a boy and girl come in through my window and squirt something into my IV," Baptist said. "But when I'd call the nurses, no one would be there."

Eventually Baptist's mind began to clear and she began working toward going home. She has undergone many skin grafts and other procedures and is now living in a UMC rehabilitation center, where she attends rehab sessions eight hours a day.

She soon will get a prosthetic leg to replace the one she lost to blood clots.

Baptist asked for a mirror last month.

"I wanted to be able to see myself and say, 'Gosh, I've come a long way,' " Baptist said. "I wanted to say I've done a good job and I have done a lot. I've pulled through. I motivate myself every morning to do the things I have to do."

Baptist said she isn't angry about the jury's decision. Stanley will still spent a significant amount of time in prison, she said.

"I just wanted him to see me. I wanted him to see what he did to me. You don't do this to someone and not feel sorry and not feel anything," Baptist said. "I don't want him to go to bed without guilt. Now when he goes to bed, maybe he'll get nightmares." I don't want him to go to bed without guilt. Now when he goes to bed, maybe he'll get nightmares."