Arson in the First Degree. (Amended by Act 2026-515)
Known as the Alabama Criminal Code
The act spans §§ 13A-10-1 to 13A-9-92 (653 sections).
Applied in 3 court decisions — leading case State v. Durant (1983)
Most recently applied in United States v. Mitchell (November 2016)
(Acts 1977, No. 607, p. 812, §2805.)
Court decisions citing this, by year. The dip in the last several years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so recent citations are undercounted.
AMENDED BY ACT 2026-515, EFFECTIVE OCTOBER 1, 2026. SEE ACT FOR REVISED LANGUAGE.
(a) A person commits the crime of arson in the first degree if he intentionally damages a building by starting or maintaining a fire or causing an explosion, and when:
(1) Another person is present in such building at the time, and
(2) The actor knows that fact, or the circumstances are such as to render the presence of a person therein a reasonable possibility.
(b) Arson in the first degree is a Class A felony.
Official source: Alabama Legislature (ALISON). Reproduced from public-domain Alabama statutes; confirm against the official source for the current text. Not legal advice.