DeBettencourt v. State

Liss, J., filed a dissenting opinion at page 532 infra.

*523It would be comforting simply to announce, in the mode of Gertrude Stein, that malice is malice is malice is malice. In law as opposed to poetry, however, it takes more than an ipse dixit to get there. The precise issue is "Does the mental element of malice within the contemplation of the arson law embrace the same 'reckless and wanton disregard of the consequences of a dangerous act’ as does the mental element of malice within the contemplation of the homicide law?” We shall hold that it does.

The propounder of this question is the…