In re J.H., No. B212635

Conviction of defendant-minor for arson after defendant and his friends lit a firecracker in a wooded area and caused a fire that burned five acres of forest land is affirmed but modified where: 1) the juvenile court misapplied the principles stated in Atkins and there was no evidence that the act that caused the fire was done with the requisite mental state, i.e., maliciously; and 2) the trial court should have found the minor guilty of the lesser included offense of unlawfully causing a fire. 

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Appellate Information

Filed December 3, 2009

Judges

Opinion by Judge Mohr

Counsel
For Appellant:   Holly Jackson

For Appellee:  Edmund G. Brown, Jr., Attorney General, Dane R. Gillette, Chief Assistant Attorney General, Pamela C. Hamanaka, Senior Assistant Attorney General, Susan D. Martynec, Supervising Deputy Attorney General, and Robert M. Snider, Deputy Attorney General