Opinion ID: 2387736
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The Closeness of the Case

Text: We have no hesitation in concluding, especially after viewing the spectacular color photographs of Revelation burning, the kerosene-fed flames rising high and enveloping the immediately adjacent column, and the damage actually done, that the circumstantial evidence of malice in this case is very strong. The jury could reasonably find that Thomas was not only frustrated, as he readily acknowledged, but angry as well, and that his zeal to send a message by doing something big led him to incinerate Revelation with little or no regard for the consequences to the property of others. An examination of the photographs makes it difficult to resist the conclusion that anyone of even modest intelligence must have known that the flames would at least singe and probably discolor and thus injure the column. The prosecutor scored some telling points during cross-examination on this issue. Thomas testified that he was a philosopher who acted in a logical fashion. His counsel in effect invited the jury to note his intelligence. The inference is strong that Thomas was a man of reasonable intelligence who must have known of the risk. From another perspective, however, it is difficult to determine the strength of the case, because the result turns in large part on Thomas' credibility. The only issue was malice, an aspect of Thomas' state of mind. It was Thomas' testimony on that very subject, and specifically his insistence that he did not believe that the column was at risk, that the prosecutor characterized as irrelevant. It is difficult if not impossible to assess on a cold record whether Thomas' demeanor and manner of testifying would have led the jurors to a different result if the prosecutor had not told them that the most important part of his testimony was irrelevant, or if the judge had explicitly cleared up the point.