State v. Nelson

Reed J.

Michael Bens had been reading in bed at about 2 a.m. on January 5, 1976, when he noticed a smell of smoke in his Aberdeen home. After a short search, he came upon the defendant, Rinehart Nelson, standing in the backyard near the entrance to a crawl space under the house, holding a book of matches in his hand. Subsequent investigation revealed flammable material, smoke, charred areas, and one burnt match under the house in the near vicinity of the crawl space entrance. The match was identical to those discovered on the person of the defendant. Nelson was arrested shortly thereafter and…