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5-38-312. No presumption on cause of fire.
Arkansas Code — all titles (historical 2020) · legal_authorities
5-38-312. No presumption on cause of fire.
(a) The purpose of this section is to:
(1) Clarify that there is not a presumption as to the cause of fire related to a violation of this subchapter;
(2) Abolish any common law contrary to this section, including without limitation Johnson v. State, 198 Ark. 871, 131 S.W.2d 934 (1939) and Thomas v. State, 295 Ark. 29, 746 S.W.2d 49 (1988); and
(3) Clarify that there is no change under this section to the public policy as it relates to civil actions involving the cause of a fire.
(b) There is not a presumption in a prosecution brought under this subchapter that:
(1) A fire was caused by:
(A) Accident; or
(B) Natural causes; or
(2) A fire was set on purpose or of incendiary origin.
(c) The burden of proof for the cause of a fire in a prosecution brought under this subchapter is beyond a reasonable doubt as provided under § 5-1-111.
(d) This section does not affect a civil action involving the cause of a fire.
Source: Arkansas Code — historical release 78 (November 6, 2020) · 5-38-312
Stored review status: Historical 2020-11-06 source release; later amendments not reconciled; machine-extracted, not independently legally reviewed; source heading status: text_in_historical_source. A text match is a research starting point; applicability is not established.
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Record provenance
Stable record: arkansas_code:legal_authorities:5-38-312
Source file: gov.ar.code.title.05.odt
Pages: Not recorded – Not recorded
Passage SHA-256: 17ec1817db0721bbbce3a7aa335a37e5f86c3c0dc37027fe0eece5c575297c83
Source location: content.xml paragraph 17681
Stored source content
5-38-312. No presumption on cause of fire.
(a) The purpose of this section is to:
(1) Clarify that there is not a presumption as to the cause of fire related to a violation of this subchapter;
(2) Abolish any common law contrary to this section, including without limitation Johnson v. State, 198 Ark. 871, 131 S.W.2d 934 (1939) and Thomas v. State, 295 Ark. 29, 746 S.W.2d 49 (1988); and
(3) Clarify that there is no change under this section to the public policy as it relates to civil actions involving the cause of a fire.
(b) There is not a presumption in a prosecution brought under this subchapter that:
(1) A fire was caused by:
(A) Accident; or
(B) Natural causes; or
(2) A fire was set on purpose or of incendiary origin.
(c) The burden of proof for the cause of a fire in a prosecution brought under this subchapter is beyond a reasonable doubt as provided under § 5-1-111.
(d) This section does not affect a civil action involving the cause of a fire.
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Arkansas Code — all titles (historical 2020) · legal_authorities
5-1-111. Burden of proof — Defenses and affirmative defenses — Presumption.
(a) Except as provided in subsections (b), (c), and (d) of this section, no person may be convicted of an offense unless the following are proved beyond a reasonable doubt:
(1) Each element of the offense;
(2) Jurisdiction;
(3) Venue; and
(4) The commission of the offense within the time period specified in § 5-1-109.
(b) The state is not required to prove jurisdiction or venue unless evidence is admitted that affirmatively shows that the court lacks jurisdiction or venue.
(c)(1) The issue of the existence of a defense does not need to be submitted to the jury unless evidence is admitted supporting the defense.
(2) If the issue of the existence of a defense is submitted to the jury, the court shall charge that any reasonable doubt on the issue requires that the defendant be acquitted.
(3) A “defense” is any matter:
(A) Designated a defense by a section of the Arkansas Criminal Code;
(B) Designated a defense by a statute not a part of the Arkansas Criminal Code; or
(C) Involving an excuse or justification peculiarly within the knowledge of the defendant on which he or she can fairly be required to introduce supporting evidence.
(d)(1) The defendant shall prove an affirmative defense by a preponderance of the evidence.
(2) An “affirmative defense” is any matter designated an affirmative defense by a:
(A) Section of the Arkansas Criminal Code; or
(B) Statute not a part of the Arkansas Criminal Code.
(e) When the Arkansas Criminal Code or a statute not a part of the Arkansas Criminal Code provides that proof of a particular fact gives rise to a presumption as to the existence of a fact that is an element of the offense, the provision has the following consequences:
Source: Arkansas Code — historical release 78 (November 6, 2020) · 5-1-111
Stored review status: Historical 2020-11-06 source release; later amendments not reconciled; machine-extracted, not independently legally reviewed; source heading status: text_in_historical_source. The source passage cites 5-1-111. This identifies an authority to review, not proof of applicability.