United States v. Banta

In United States v. Acevedo-Velez, 17 M.J. 1 (C.M.A.1983), this Court discussed at length the history of the crime of arson, as prohibited by Article 126, Uniform Code of Military Justice, 10 U.S.C. § 926. See also United States v. Caldwell, 17 M.J. 8 (C.M.A.1983). In light of that history, we concluded that the words “willfully and mali*113ciously” — as employed by Congress in defining aggravated arson — were intended to have their common-law meaning. Therefore, we repudiated an earlier opinion which indicated that arson required a specific, rather than merely a general, intent.

Later, in United…