2020 Georgia Code
Title 16 - Crimes and Offenses
Chapter 7 - Damage to and Intrusion Upon Property
Article 3 - Arson and Explosives
§ 16-7-62. Arson in the Third Degree

1. A person commits the offense of arson in the third degree when, by means of fire or explosive, he or she knowingly damages or knowingly causes, aids, abets, advises, encourages, hires, counsels, or procures another to damage:
   1. Any personal property of another without his or her consent or in which another has a security interest, including but not limited to a lien, without the consent of both and the value of the property is $25.00 or more;
   2. Any personal property when such is insured against loss or damage by fire or explosive and the loss or damage is accomplished without the consent of both the insurer and insured and the value of the property is $25.00 or more; or
   3. Any personal property with the intent to defeat, prejudice, or defraud the rights of a spouse or co-owner and the value of the property is $25.00 or more.
2. A person also commits the offense of arson in the third degree when, in the commission of a felony, by means of fire or explosive, he or she knowingly damages or knowingly causes, aids, abets, advises, encourages, hires, counsels, or procures another to damage anything included or described in subsection (a) of this Code section.
3. A person convicted of the offense of arson in the third degree shall be punished by a fine not to exceed $10,000.00 or by imprisonment for not less than one nor more than five years, or both.

(Ga. L. 1924, p. 192, §§ 3, 4; Code 1933, § 26-2210; Ga. L. 1949, p. 1118, § 4; Code 1933, § 26-1403, enacted by Ga. L. 1968, p. 1249, § 1; Ga. L. 1976, p. 1497, § 3; Ga. L. 1979, p. 935, § 3; Ga. L. 2004, p. 734, § 3.)

- Ga. L. 2004, p. 734, § 4, not codified by the General Assembly, provides that the amendment to this Code section is not applicable to any offense committed prior to July 1, 2004, and that any such offense shall be punishable as provided by the statute in effect at the time the offense was committed.

JUDICIAL DECISIONS

Corpus delicti in arson.

- In a case of arson, the corpus delicti consists of two fundamental facts: first, the burning of the house described in the indictment, and second, the fact that a criminal agency was the cause of the burning. Reese v. State, 94 Ga. App. 387, 94 S.E.2d 741 (1956).

Burning with intent to defraud is not essential element of third-degree arson. Powell v. State, 121 Ga. App. 57, 172 S.E.2d 455 (1970).

- Burning to defraud an insurer under former Code 1933, § 26-2213 (see now O.C.G.A. § 16-9-53) is not a lesser offense included in the greater one of third-degree arson under former Code 1933, § 26-2210 (see now O.C.G.A. § 16-7-62) because each is a separate and distinct offense. Powell v. State, 121 Ga. App. 57, 172 S.E.2d 455 (1970).

- State's expert witness may be allowed to testify as to the expert's belief that the fire had been incendiary in origin. Blackburn v. State, 180 Ga. App. 436, 349 S.E.2d 286 (1986).

- When the defendant and the defendant's father filed with the insurer of the personal property a proof of loss form which stated that personal property damage amounting to several thousand dollars had resulted from the fire, this form, which was admitted into evidence without objection, was sufficient to authorize a finding that the personal property damaged by the fire was valued at $25 or more. Blackburn v. State, 180 Ga. App. 436, 349 S.E.2d 286 (1986).

- Circumstances must generally be depended upon, not only to show the guilt of the accused, but to establish the corpus delicti of the crime of arson. Reese v. State, 94 Ga. App. 387, 94 S.E.2d 741 (1956).

- There was sufficient evidence to support a defendant's convictions of malice murder, armed robbery, kidnapping, third-degree arson, burglary, and possession of a firearm during the commission of a crime when the evidence showed that the defendant made the defendant's accomplice shoot a convenience store clerk after the defendant forced the clerk at gunpoint into a wooded area, took money from a cash register in the store, and started a fire in the store. The accomplice's testimony was sufficiently corroborated by the defendant's admission that the defendant owned the shotgun that was used in the shooting, the defendant's admission that the defendant gave the shotgun to the accomplice, the testimony of a third person that the accomplice gave the third person the shotgun after the robbery, and the fact that shotgun shells found in the defendant's home matched shells taken from the clerk's body. Judkins v. State, 282 Ga. 580, 652 S.E.2d 537 (2007).

Cited in Boggus v. State, 136 Ga. App. 917, 222 S.E.2d 686 (1975).

RESEARCH REFERENCES

Am. Jur. 2d.

- 5 Am. Jur. 2d, Arson and Related Offenses, § 1 et seq. 31A Am. Jur. 2d, Explosions and Explosives, §§ 169 et seq., 191.

- 6A C.J.S., Arson, § 17.