12 results for 'cat:"Evidence" AND cat:"Arson"'.
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. 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. 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. 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
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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. 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. Worthen finds the trial court properly convicted defendant for arson with intent to damage a habitation. Evidence shows that a witness observed defendant at a vacant house after she was alerted by the sound of a shattering window. Her partner recorded defendant with a cell phone while the witness called 911. For the next five days, she saw defendant drive slowly past the house in the early afternoon. Passing motorists later saw the house burning. The combined and cumulative evidence supports that the jury was rationally justified in finding that defendant committed the arson. Though defendant argues that the evidence is insufficient to prove that he used an accelerant, the state was not required to prove this. Affirmed.
Court: Texas Courts of Appeals, Judge: Worthen, Filed On: July 31, 2023, Case #: 12-22-00206-CR, Categories: evidence, arson
J. Rushing finds the lower court improperly excluded testimony about the defendant's belief that he was on his family’s property when he set a bush fire that spread and damaged a federally owned forest in North Carolina. The government is tasked with proving the defendant willfully set the fire. Evidence that on the day of the fire, the defendant believed he was on his property when he set the fire would support a defense to the general willfulness element and should not have been excluded. Vacated.
Court: 4th Circuit, Judge: Rushing , Filed On: July 25, 2023, Case #: 22-4307, Categories: evidence, arson
J. Eklund finds the trial court properly allowed the state's expert witness to testify during defendant's arson trial that a dresser pictured in the room where the fire originated could have acted as an accelerant. Although she never performed any tests on the dresser, her claim that "anything that makes the fire burn faster" is an accelerant was within the scope of her expertise, while the state was also not required to prove an accelerant was used to convict defendant. Meanwhile, circumstantial evidence that defendant burned several of his girlfriend's belongings in the past and had threatened to burn down her house in the leadup to the fire was sufficient to convict him of arson. Affirmed.
Court: Ohio Court Of Appeals, Judge: Eklund, Filed On: June 26, 2023, Case #: 2023-Ohio-2114, Categories: evidence, Experts, arson
J. Clark finds that the lower court properly convicted defendant of murder, arson, and tampering with evidence for collaborating with his wife to kill their adopted 16-year-old son and set fire to their home to cover up the death because police and fire investigators and forensic experts testified that the teenager had been dead before being badly burned in the fire. Affirmed.
Court: New York Appellate Divisions, Judge: Clark, Filed On: May 18, 2023, Case #: 111985, Categories: evidence, Murder, arson