People v. Royce

Appeal from a judgment of the County Court of Chemung County (Castellino, J.), rendered July 11, 1986, upon a verdict convicting defendant of the crime of arson in the second degree.

Defendant was charged in a single-count indictment with arson in the second degree, relating to a fire at 115 College Avenue in the City of Elmira, Chemung County, on January 25, 1986. The record shows that defendant, who had escaped from Elmira Psychiatric Center, spent the preceding night in the second-floor apartment of Dennis Rounds. When Rounds discovered the fire in his kitchen the next morning, defendant…