Opinion ID: 852652
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Bodily Injury to Multiple Victims

Text: The enhancement to an A felony is covered by the Kelly rationale. The crime of arson as a B felony is complete under subsections (a)(1) through (a)(4) when the requisite mens rea is present and either the property of another is damaged without consent in an amount of at least $5,000, or a dwelling or place of worship is damaged without the owner's consent, or property is damaged endangering human life. Like OWI, which is the completed Class A misdemeanor if one operates a vehicle while intoxicated, irrespective of any result, but is enhanced to a D felony if serious bodily injury results or a C felony if death results, the last sentence of section 1(a) enhances the B felony, however it is accomplished, to an A felony if actual bodily injury results. The State argues that the last sentence in section 1(a) defines separate crimes of Class A felony arson when more than one person other than the defendant incurs bodily injury or serious bodily injury as a result of the defendant's intentional or knowing use of fire or explosives under any of the circumstances described in section 1(a). The last sentence of section 1(a), like the enhanced penalties under the OWI statute, does not define a separate crime. The crime of Class B arson is complete upon knowingly or intentionally damaging property under at least one of the circumstances enumerated in subsections (a)(1)-(4), namely property damage in excess of $5,000 or knowingly endangering human life. Thus, an act of arson that is a B felony and also results in actual bodily injury to multiple people constitutes a single Class A felony arson. The same act may of course be charged as multiple murders or attempted murders or reckless homicides, etc., but those crimes were not charged in this case. Cf. Metzler, 540 N.E.2d at 607. For the reasons explained in Part I.D., Dorsey committed one Class B arson by intentionally using fire to damage property under circumstances which met the criteria of both subsections (a)(2) and (a)(3). His actions also resulted in bodily injury, an element of the elevated penalty of Class A felony arson. Even though the arson caused bodily injury to multiple people, under Kelly, Dorsey can be convicted of only one count of arson elevated to a Class A felony because of the resulting bodily injury.