State v. Smith

The defendant Norton and one Thomas S. Smith were jointly charged with the crime of arson, and upon trial were convicted. Norton has appealed and raised numerous assignments of error.

It is first urged that error was committed by the trial court in refusing to give an instruction to the effect that, when a building is burned, the presumption is that the fire was caused by accident or natural causes rather than by the deliberate act of the accused.

In State v. Pienick, 46 Wash. 522, 90 Pac. 645, we stated the rule to be that, “where a building is burned, the presumption is that the fire was…