42 results for 'cat:"Arson"'.
J. Holloway finds the trial court properly convicted defendant for aggravated arson and sentenced him to 20 years. The defendant alleges the evidence did not support the conviction and the sentence was higher than the minimum. The trial court’s application of enhancement factors were proper advisory and the sentence was correctly imposed. Affirmed.
Court: Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals, Judge: Holloway, Filed On: May 13, 2024, Case #: W2023-01150-CCA-R3-CD, Categories: Sentencing, arson
J. Walker finds that the lower court improperly dismissed defendant's post-conviction petition alleging ineffective assistance of counsel. The record is insufficient as to counsel's actions in obtaining any excuse for his delay in filing the postconviction petition. Reversed.
Court: Illinois Appellate Court, Judge: Walker, Filed On: May 3, 2024, Case #: 221644, Categories: Ineffective Assistance, arson
J. Anderson reverses the defendant's convictions for first-degree arson, second-degree burglary and theft of a motor vehicle. The district court abused its discretion in denying the defendant the right to assert a mental-illness defense, since several reports on his mental state indicate that the disturbances leading to his conduct pre-existed his drug use. Reversed.
Court: Minnesota Supreme Court, Judge: Anderson, Filed On: May 1, 2024, Case #: A22-1206, Categories: Burglary, Competence, arson
J. Boggs finds that the trial court properly convicted defendant of murder and arson and correctly denied defendant's motion to disqualify the district attorney. Although the district attorney previously served as defendant's public defender, the prior representations were totally unrelated to the murder prosecution. Sufficient evidence was presented to support defendant's convictions and to show that skeletal remains belonged to the victim. The trial court correctly refused to allow defendant to question witnesses about other fires that occurred at a co-indictee's and a defense witness's homes while defendant was incarcerated since the evidence was not relevant. Affirmed.
Court: Georgia Supreme Court, Judge: Boggs, Filed On: April 30, 2024, Case #: S24A0013, Categories: Murder, arson
Per curiam, defendant's appeal is denied. Defendant was convicted on two counts of arson and one count of possessing a firebomb associated with his role attempting to burn the district attorney's garage and firebomb the district attorney’s home. He was sentenced to 35 years confinement followed by 15 years extended supervision for the arson convictions, and a consecutive two-year sentence followed by three years extended supervision for the firebomb conviction. Defendant argues his sentence should be modified since he assisted law enforcement in the prosecution of a fellow inmate, but the lower court found that it did not constitute a new factor, and is therefore not eligible for sentence modification. Affirmed.
Court: Wisconsin Court of Appeals, Judge: Per curiam, Filed On: April 23, 2024, Case #: 2022AP002094-CR, Categories: Sentencing, arson
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J. Tookey finds the trial court properly convicted defendant of arson in a fire that destroyed part of the abandoned Mill E building at the Blue Heron Paper Mill in Oregon City. There is sufficient evidence “both that defendant started the fire and that he intended to damage property when he did so.” Affirmed.
Court: Oregon Court of Appeals, Judge: Tookey, Filed On: April 17, 2024, Case #: A178613, Categories: Evidence, arson
J. Chicchelly finds that defendant was properly ordered to pay $180,000 in restitution after he was convicted of arson and other charges for burning down a nightclub because the amount was supported by demolition costs, lost rentals, and damage sustained to a nearby building. Affirmed.
Court: Iowa Court Of Appeals, Judge: Chicchelly, Filed On: April 10, 2024, Case #: 23-0788, Categories: Restitution, arson
J. Rose finds that the trial court improperly granted the state's motion to involuntarily medicate defendant, who was charged with burglary and arson after setting ablaze a six-story apartment building under construction. Defendant had not exhausted all other forms of treatment, and it was not clearly demonstrated that another antipsychotic medication would interfere with defendant's ability to assist counsel. Reversed.
Court: New Jersey Appellate Division, Judge: Rose, Filed On: April 8, 2024, Case #: A-0467-23, Categories: Burglary, Competence, arson
J. Colloton finds a lower court properly dismissed a defendant's motion for a mistrial. The defendant, who is under indictment on on felony murder and arson in Native American land, argued that he was entitled to relief based on double jeopardy. However, the government sufficiently showed in court that he consented to a mistrial in the original proceedings. Affirmed.
Court: 8th Circuit, Judge: Colloton, Filed On: February 23, 2024, Case #: 23-2431, Categories: Murder, Double Jeopardy, arson
[Consolidated.] J. Grant finds that the district courts properly denied defendant's habeas petitions seeking to vacate several of his life sentences following his guilty plea to charges including arson and use of a destructive device during and in relation to a crime of violence. Defendant was responsible for a string of bombings in Georgia and Alabama in the late 1990s, including the bombing of the 1996 Centennial Summer Olympic Games in Atlanta. Defendant's motions are collateral attacks on his sentences and are barred by the appeal waiver in his plea agreement. Affirmed.
Court: 11th Circuit, Judge: Grant, Filed On: February 12, 2024, Case #: 21-12828, Categories: Habeas, arson
J. Blane finds that defendant was properly convicted of arson, attempted murder, and other charges because evidence indicated that he told a co-worker he would kill his wife if she ever tried to take their child and leave him. Evidence also indicated he set fire to her house while she, their daughter, and her parents were inside, and that he drove by as the residence burned. Affirmed.
Court: Iowa Court Of Appeals, Judge: Blane, Filed On: February 7, 2024, Case #: 22-1976, Categories: Evidence, Murder, arson
J. Abele finds the trial court's failure to properly inform defendant he could be subject to lifetime registration requirements if he pleaded guilty to aggravated arson did not render his guilty plea involuntary. The registration requirements are remedial in nature and a trial court is not required to inform a defendant of such penalties in cases where a prison sentence is part of the punishment. Affirmed.
Court: Ohio Court Of Appeals, Judge: Abele, Filed On: February 1, 2024, Case #: 2024-Ohio-420, Categories: Plea, arson
J. Gruender finds a lower court properly sentenced a defendant to 84 months in prison after he pleaded guilty to arson for setting a fire in an apartment building hallway. The government argued that the defendant is a career offender based on prior crimes of violence. However, the defendant presented evidence in court that his prior conviction of domestic abuse was not a crime of violence. Affirmed.
Court: 8th Circuit, Judge: Gruender, Filed On: January 16, 2024, Case #: 23-1048, Categories: Sentencing, Domestic Violence, arson
J. Vogel finds that defendant was properly convicted of arson because evidence of his intoxication and that he threatened to shoot officers responding to a fire at his home was relevant since the details supported the timeline of events. Affirmed.
Court: Iowa Court Of Appeals, Judge: Vogel, Filed On: January 10, 2024, Case #: 22-1157, Categories: Evidence, arson
J. Garry finds that the lower court properly convicted defendant of arson and criminal mischief after a fire was set at his then-girlfriend's home following a dispute they had at a restaurant in light of circumstantial evidence that included the parties' text messages and eyewitness testimony placing defendant at her home before the fire. Affirmed.
Court: New York Appellate Divisions, Judge: Garry, Filed On: January 4, 2024, Case #: 113387, Categories: Evidence, arson
J. Scudder finds that the lower court improperly sentenced defendant to a 15-year mandatory minimum sentence. After the Indiana Supreme Court declined to address a certified question, the panel found that defendant's conviction under Indiana's 2002 arson statute does not constitute a violent felony. Therefore, he does not qualify for the mandatory minimum under the Armed Career Criminal Act. Reversed.
Court: 7th Circuit, Judge: Scudder, Filed On: January 2, 2024, Case #: 22-2278, Categories: Firearms, Sentencing, arson
J. Johnson, finding the record did not contain sufficient evidence to support the amount of restitution ordered, upholds defendant’s conviction on simple arson but vacates the five-year prison sentence and $4,500 in restitution and remands the case for resentencing. Affirmed in part, vacated in part.
Court: Louisiana Court Of Appeal, Judge: Johnson, Filed On: December 27, 2023, Case #: 23-KA-234, Categories: Sentencing, Restitution, arson
J. Gonzalez finds that the lower court properly convicted defendant of murder and arson. Defendant claims on appeal that his convictions should be overturned on the grounds that his legal counsel should have been present at a preliminary hearing where his bail was set. While it is true his counsel should have been present for that hearing, it was not a critical stage of the prosecution against him and the violation did not influence the ultimate verdict against him. Affirmed.
Court: Washington Supreme Court, Judge: Gonzalez, Filed On: December 7, 2023, Case #: 101159-8, Categories: Fair Trial, Murder, arson
J. Loken finds a lower court properly imposed a pretrial detention order on a defendant who started seven fires while intoxicated inside of a hotel stairwell during a work function. The defendant argued that she is not a flight risk or a danger to society. However, the government sufficiently showed in court that the defendant would most likely abscond, based on her history of violating court orders. Affirmed.
Court: 8th Circuit, Judge: Loken, Filed On: December 7, 2023, Case #: 23-3147, Categories: Sentencing, arson, Employment
J. Greer finds that defendant was properly convicted of arson and criminal mischief after he destroyed a TV and shelving in his paramour's home and set fire it on fire with lighter fluid because defendant admitted he was the culprit to police. Affirmed.
Court: Iowa Court Of Appeals, Judge: Greer, Filed On: December 6, 2023, Case #: 22-1961, Categories: Evidence, arson
J. D'Apolito finds the trial court violated defendant's Sixth Amendment rights when it conducted a bench trial in his arson case. The jury waiver was not signed by defendant and his competency to stand trial had not been determined when the waiver was entered into the record. Additionally, because the not guilty by reason of insanity verdict handed down by the trial court acted as an acquittal, the state cannot retry defendant on the same arson charges, which are now barred by double jeopardy. Reversed.
Court: Ohio Court Of Appeals, Judge: D'Apolito, Filed On: December 5, 2023, Case #: 2023-Ohio-4405, Categories: Competence, Double Jeopardy, arson
J. Goldman finds that evidence supported a jury finding that defendant committed arson of an inhabited structure, as he still lived at the home that he set on fire. Statements he made to an arson investigator were not made while in custody so Miranda protections were inapplicable. However, neither his insurer nor the fire department are entitled to restitution since they were not direct victims of the crime. Reversed in part.
Court: California Courts Of Appeal, Judge: Goldman, Filed On: November 30, 2023, Case #: A162304, Categories: Miranda, Restitution, arson
J. Clark finds that the lower court properly convicted defendant based on his guilty plea to attempted arson because the ineffective assistance claim was belied by the record, which indicated he received an advantageous deal with the minimum permissible sentence for a violent felony and resolved other pending charges. Affirmed.
Court: New York Appellate Divisions, Judge: Clark, Filed On: November 16, 2023, Case #: 112669, Categories: Ineffective Assistance, arson
J. DeWine finds the ability of a trial court to reduce the length of an arson offender's registration on Ohio's arson offender registry being tied to a recommendation by prosecutors does not violate the separation of powers doctrine. The duty to register is not a criminal sentence but attaches as a matter of law and, therefore, is within the legislative branch's authority. Affirmed.
Court: Ohio Supreme Court, Judge: DeWine, Filed On: November 9, 2023, Case #: 2023-Ohio-4035, Categories: Constitution, Sentencing, arson
J. Zmuda finds the trial court properly denied defendant's motion for acquittal at the conclusion of his trial on arson and attempted murder charges. Although no eyewitness placed him at the scene of the crime, a lighter recovered less than 15 feet from the property contained his DNA, while he was also seen at the property in the days following the fire, which was sufficient for the jury to convict him. Affirmed.
Court: Ohio Court Of Appeals, Judge: Zmuda, Filed On: November 3, 2023, Case #: 2023-Ohio-4009, Categories: Evidence, Murder, arson
J. Hood finds defendant and all other individuals have a protected privacy interest in their internet search history, even when revealed only by IP address and not name; therefore, law enforcement officials are required to include exact information when they submit a search warrant for such information. Therefore, in this case, the government's search warrant parameters, which included Google searches for a specific address involved in a suspected arson that had been searched for within 15 days of the crime, satisfied Fourth Amendment requirements and allowed the court to issue the warrant. Affirmed.
Court: Colorado Supreme Court, Judge: Hood, Filed On: October 16, 2023, Case #: 2023CO53, Categories: Constitution, Search, arson
J. Johnson finds the trial court properly convicted defendant for arson, assessing punishment at 14 years of confinement. Though defendant asserts that the trial court “should have found some evidence of incompetency” because a doctor was ordered to evaluate him, the court withdrew and vacated that order. Defendant's argument that his decision not to apply for probation was evidence of incompetency is rejected, as he acknowledged understanding the court's explanation of the consequences. Affirmed.
Court: Texas Courts of Appeals, Judge: Johnson , Filed On: September 13, 2023, Case #: 09-22-00373-CR, Categories: Competence, arson
J. Pearce finds that the appeals court properly concluded that trial counsel did not err in deciding not to seek a directed verdict in an aggravated arson case. Counsel did not have controlling precedent to assure he would succeed with an argument that the structure defendant burned was not an habitable structure. And counsel's decision to cross-examine a state witness instead of objecting to improper testimony was reasonable. Affirmed.
Court: Utah Supreme Court, Judge: Pearce, Filed On: August 17, 2023, Case #: 20220297, Categories: Evidence, Ineffective Assistance, arson
J. Scudder certifies a question to the Indiana Supreme Court asking whether Indiana arson requires a fire or burning as an element of arson. This element marks the difference for whether defendant's arson conviction qualifies as a violent felony or not.
Court: 7th Circuit, Judge: Scudder, Filed On: August 9, 2023, Case #: 22-2278, Categories: arson