According to Florida Statute 806.01, arson is when any person willfully and unlawfully, by fire or explosion, damages or causes to be damaged any dwelling, either occupied or not.
What this means is that arson is basically the damage of a property by fire or explosion. To prove that the crime of arson was committed, the state has to prove two elements. First, it has to prove that there was actually damage to a property that was caused by fire or explosion.
The second element that needs to be proven is that the offense was committed willfully, or while the person was committing another felony.
Many people engage in that activity when they can’t pay their mortgage in their houses. In Arizona, a man committed suicide in the courtroom. Right after hearing the guilty verdict convicting him of setting his own house on fire, he swallowed a pill and died after 10 minutes.
For more information about arson and other criminal offenses, call an experienced criminal defense attorney in South Florida.