After watching the video about arson in this week’s module,  and reading about arson on pages 399-401, read the news story in the following link:

http://fox5sandiego.com/2016/11/03/overnight-fire-…

Then analyze the case and decide what charges you would issue against the suspect in this case.  Use your knowledge of what we learned about homicide from week 10, and consider the “attempt” crimes we talked about last week.  

• Collapse Subdiscussion“>Collapse SubdiscussionEvelin Villa-Garcia“>Evelin Villa-Garcia

She/Her)”>Evelin Villa-Garcia (She/Her)6:07pmApr 9 at 6:07pmManage Discussion Entry“>Manage Discussion EntryBased solely on the news story I would charge David Jetter with arson. Arson is defined as recklessly or deliberately setting on fire another person’s property. In this case, Jetter set the apartment on fire, luckily everyone was able to get out safely. Another newspaper based on this event states how the couple had an argument and shortly after that Jetter set some papers on fire to the point where the apartment got on fire because he lost control over it. This was not done intentionally to harm anyone or purposely set someone’s property on fire. Assuming he had someone help him in some type of way, such as providing some type of tools like gasoline or encouraging Jetter, both could be charged with conspiracy. Reply to Comment“>ReplyReply to Comment

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Collapse Subdiscussion“>Collapse SubdiscussionOlivia Shamon“>Olivia Shamon

Olivia Shamon5:51pmApr 9 at 5:51pm

Manage Discussion Entry“>Manage Discussion Entry

Arson is “defined as the willful and malicious burning of the dwelling house of another;” arson equals setting fire to dwelling or structures in curtilage plus intent to burn, knowing will burn, reckless creation of risk of burning plus the burning of dwelling (smoke damage s sufficient under state statutes).” “A 34-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of setting fire to his Talmadge-area apartment building Thursday while his wife and her children were away.”

I have noticed a few different things throughout reading the website on the news; he was a nice guy…“They seemed like a very decent family who was active with his kids, saw him drop them off to school every day. It was a little shocking.”

It was a common opinion that many who live on this street expressed.

“Pretty sad, he seemed like a nice guy. He would drink a beer or two there, I never thought anything. He was a very polite guy, it’s unfortunate because they seem like really nice people,” said Desean Bailey.

This caught my attention, if everybody in his neighborhood was shocked at why he did the fire, he wouldn’t do something like this. A few people who burn down their own property actually do it for the purpose of receiving insurance money; finding this out I would do a background check on their financial status. This will result in an attempt of vandalism and fraud; it may also be considered a charge of conspiracy. Solicitation “punishes an effort to persuade another individual to commit a crime;” an assumption I have is what if another individual persuaded the 34-year-old man to burn his house down. If this were the case, the person trying to do the persuading could’ve mentioned, no one will get hurt, your family isn’t here, the money you will earn will have you comfortable, etc. This crime can also be considered an inchoate crime because intent can be found if my other assumptions were true. As well as, the act was carried out because he actually set his house on fire.

Lippman, M. (2018). Contemporary Criminal Law (5th ed.). SAGE Publications.

Tuazon, D. T. (2016, March 11). Fox 5. Alleged Arsonist Arrested for Setting Fire to His Apartment.  (Links to an external site.)“>https://fox5sandiego.com/news/overnight-fire-forces-family-from-apartment/ (Links to an external site.)Reply