Fulford v. State

Anderson, J., delivered the opinion of the Court. The appellant, Morris Fulford, was convicted of setting fire to and burning a schoolhouse in violation of Article 27, Sec. 7, Maryland Code, in a non-jury trial in the Circuit Court for Caroline County. He was sentenced to the jurisdiction of the Department of Correction for a period of nine years. On appeal from his conviction appellant raises four contentions which, in essence, may be treated as one, namely: Was the evidence sufficient to sustain his conviction of statutory arson ?

The testimony discloses that on April 8, 1968 the principal of the Colonel Richardson High School in Caroline County received information that the school was to be set afire. He called Officer Oliver H. Christopher and asked him to come to the school. However, prior to his ²⁷² arrival, a homemade bomb was thrown through a window of the school. The bomb exploded, setting fire to the room in which it was thrown.

Fortunately, the school authorities were alerted and the fire was extinguished promptly. Officer Christopher arrived at 7:30 P.M., followed shortly thereafter by Trooper Wilson and the fire marshal. On arrival they found that a window had been broken in one of the classrooms, a broken bottle containing a rag wick and kerosene was found lying on the floor, and there had been a fire resulting from the explosion of the bomb. They found that there was an actual burning by flames of a part of the building, in that an area on the window frame approximately 24 inches by 4 inches was burned.

The window frame was metal but the paint had been burned off. Also, the Venetian blind attached to the building by screws over the window and the cords attached thereto had been burned and charred. There was a charring of the paint on the wall behind the Venetian blind. In addition, about 17 books in a bookcase by the window were burned or partially burned.

A rag similar to the wick in the bottle was found on the ground below the broken window. Appellant was taken into custody immediately following the fire but released. He was later arrested by Trooper Wilson on June 14, 1969, at which- time he voluntarily gave a written statement in which he fully admitted his implication in the crime, although he denied throwing the bomb through the window. In his brief he does not question the voluntariness of his statement or any violation of his- rights under Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U. S. 436 .

When the issue is sufficiency of the evidence, the test to be applied is whether the evidence, if believed, either shows directly or supports a rational inference of the facts to be proved from which the court could fairly be convinced beyond a reasonable doubt of the defendant’s guilt of the offense charged. Speaks v. State, 3 Md. App. 371, 379 ; Montague v. State, 3 Md. App. 66, 72 . In non-jury trials the weight of the