State v. Pienick

The appellant Morris Pienick has been convicted of the crime of arson, and appeals to this court. He contends that the evidence was insufficient to sustain a conviction.

After a jury has weighed the evidence and the trial judge has declined to set aside its verdict, an appellate court should exercise the utmost caution in disturbing the verdict. Yet in this case, having examined the entire record, we feel it our duty to award a new trial for want of evidence sufficient to warrant conviction. The fire occurred in a two-story building at the intersection of two business streets of North Yakima.…