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N.Y. Penal Law § 150.20

Arson in the first degree

Applied in 7 court decisions — leading case United States v. Mitchell (2016)

Most recently applied in People v. Truitt (February 2023)

2014-09-22

How often courts cite this section

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citing decisions per year

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.

§ 150.20 Arson in the first degree.\n 1. A person is guilty of arson in the first degree when he\nintentionally damages a building or motor vehicle by causing an\nexplosion or a fire and when (a) such explosion or fire is caused by an\nincendiary device propelled, thrown or placed inside or near such\nbuilding or motor vehicle; or when such explosion or fire is caused by\nan explosive; or when such explosion or fire either (i) causes serious\nphysical injury to another person other than a participant, or (ii) the\nexplosion or fire was caused with the expectation or receipt of\nfinancial advantage or pecuniary profit by the actor; and when (b)\nanother person who is not a participant in the crime is present in such\nbuilding or motor vehicle at the time; and (c) the defendant knows that\nfact or the circumstances are such as to render the presence of such\nperson therein a reasonable possibility.\n 2. As used in this section, "incendiary device" means a breakable\ncontainer designed to explode or produce uncontained combustion upon\nimpact, containing flammable liquid and having a wick or a similar\ndevice capable of being ignited.\n Arson in the first degree is a class A-I felony.\n

Official source: NYS Open Legislation (New York State Senate). Reproduced from public-domain New York statutes; confirm against the official source for the current text. Not legal advice.