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Appeals Court Overturns Arson Conviction Of Century Man For Stolen Car Fire
January 13, 2016
The First District Court of Appeal has overturned the arson conviction of a Century man that stole a a car that was accidentally burned after a a cigarette lighter was used to illuminate the passenger compartment, which contained a stolen gas can.
Joshua Jackson Grimes, 31, was convicted by an Escambia County jury of grand theft of a motor vehicle, burglary of an unoccupied structure, second degree arson and second degree petit theft. He was sentenced by Judge Jan Shackelford to four years in state prison, plus ordered to $1,434 in court costs, fees and the investigative cost of the State Fire Marshal’s Office.
In reverse the arson conviction Tuesday, the appeals court remanded the case back to Escambia County for re-sentencing. The court said for the conviction to stand, Grimes would have to be responsible to starting the fire. But prosecutors agreed that the fire was started by a juvenile.
“It cannot be said that appellant caused the fire, nor that the fire occurred during the theft of the motor vehicle,” according to the appeals court ruling. “The state concedes Mr. Grimes did not start the fire. H.L., a juvenile who was not present when the car was taken from where its owner left it, accidentally set the interior of the car on fire well after the appellant had taken the car and reached “a place of temporary safety.”
According to the Escambia County Sheriff’s Office, Grimes took a 2003 Hyundai Sonata without permission from a female on Tedder Road. Grimes allegedly drove to Wallace, AL, where he pickup up a teen male, the two of them riding around until the vehicle ran out of gas after dark back in Florida. Grimes then reportedly stole a gas can containing about four gallons of gas from the carport of a residence on Highway 168.
The teen said Grimes poured a “little bit” of gas into the vehicle to get the pair out of the area and then placed the gas can in the backseat of the vehicle.
A short time later, the teen used a cigarette lighter to illuminate the inside of the vehicle, accidently igniting the gas can and inside of the vehicle. The Walnut Hill Station of Escambia Fire Rescue was dispatched to a vehicle fire with a possible burn victim on Highway 168, but the vehicle was gone by the time firefighters arrived.
Grimes allegedly drove the vehicle to his home on nearby Wawbeek Road until morning and then returned the burned vehicle back to the owner’s home after daylight. According to deputies, the vehicle was charred on the inside, with a melted five-gallon gas can and a melted ice chest in the backseat.
The teen male was found to have suffered burns during the incident, and the case was referred to the Department of Children and Families for further investigation.
Comments
10 Responses to “Appeals Court Overturns Arson Conviction Of Century Man For Stolen Car Fire”
I would prefer not to be convicted of any real crimes I may have committed, but at most the ones I actually did commit.
That said, this reminds us crimes can have much worse consequences than even the criminal first intended. For example, if I commit armed robbery I may not actually intend to shoot or otherwise kill the one I’m robbing because I think he won’t resist but he might. In fact he might resist, shoot at me and hit a third party.
I might not be armed but caust a heart attack by pretending.
Best to avoid committing crimes, less uncertainty.
David for a clear conscience
Matthew 25: Verse 34-46
The arson is obviously the fault of the tobacco companies.
traumaqueen….So very well written, thank you. May whom ever had helped you in the past, keep supporting you. If it’s the man above, yourself, or the heaven sent angel on your shoulder, I wish you the best.
Stop making excuses orvpeople doing bad things. That’s what is wrong with society today. Nobody takes responsibility for their actions and nobody is held accountable for their actions either.
I was abused in anyway possible from age 2-10. Then I was adopted at 10 and told everyday that I was damaged goods. Raped when I was 29 yrs and have buried three daughters,a husband and both parents. I have never done drugs and don’t drink much either. The excuse, we are bad because of the way we were raised and because of our home life, is a crock and only that. If we are what we came from then I should be a very,very,very bad person who does deplorable things to and at other people. Alot of people who have gone through less have committed suicide. Instead I’m an educated woman who chose a profession as a paramedic so I could help others(funny because no one helped me as a child). I decided in my mind that I was better than what was done to me. I am not saying I had it worse than he did. Im strictly posting my comment because he is the way he is because he choses to be a bad person. Stop making excuses for bad people doing bad things. People can rise above the way they were raised and be good people.I know because I’ve done it..
@ Sara. Education would have been a way that would have kept him from living off stealing from others. I have taught many students who overcame their home life by choosing not to live like that type of home life. He like us, had a choice to make. He chose poorly. I’ve seen students make a commitment to living a moral life. It seems everyone wants to blame some one or some thing for their situation instead of owning up to the fact it was their poor choices. Choices choices, we all make them.
I know he’s got plenty of problems; but, if you knew of his childhood/home life, he never stood a chance, without some help.
Perhaps when transporting “borrowed” gasoline, the alleged criminals should have borrowed a flashlight to illuminate the interior of the vehicle.
It might be right for this instance to be overturned because he did not actually do it but if he had never stole the car it would not have ever happened by anyone. It is not like the GET AWAY DRIVER in a robbery not being charged the same as the robber because he didn’t do the robbery but yet he was instrumental in the end results. The STATE SUPREME COURT would not consider overturning a case where a man was sent to prison for erecting signs in his yard as not having any aggravating circumstances but a COUNTY COP had been involved in various FELONY CRIMES and the STATE declined to prosecute him. I guess it is not what you did but who you know and being part of the JUST-US system. GETERDONE
Mr Grimes makes for a poor excuse of an ambassador for the Wawbeek community.
I do suppose that people have to be born somewhere.