State v. Kaster, 32802.

• Citation: 211 Minn. 119,300 N.W. 897
• Decision Date: 04 December 1941
• Docket Number: No. 32802.,32802.
• Parties: STATE v. KASTER.
• Court: Supreme Court of Minnesota (US)

211 Minn. 119
300 N.W. 897

STATE
v.
KASTER.

No. 32802.

Supreme Court of Minnesota.

Oct. 24, 1941.
Rehearing Denied Dec. 4, 1941.

Appeal from District Court, Dakota County; W. A. Schultz, Judge.

Abraham Kaster was convicted of arson in the third degree, and he appeals.

Reversed.

[300 N.W. 898]

Syllabus by the Court.

Where, in a criminal case, the evidence of defendant's guilt is all circumstantial, the requirement of proof beyond a reasonable doubt is not satisfied if the inference of innocence is as reasonable as that of guilt.

D. S. Lane, of Olivia, for appellant.

J. A. A. Burnquist, Atty. Gen., D. L. Grannis, Jr., Co. Atty., of South St. Paul, and Hayes Dansingburg, Asst. Atty. Gen., for respondent.

STONE, Justice.

Convicted of arson in the third degree, defendant appeals from the order denying his motion for a new trial.

For many years defendant has been a resident of South St. Paul, modestly engaged in general merchandising. In March of 1940, he owned and occupied a store building facing busy Concord street. The front entrance was flanked by large plate-glass windows. The upper half of the door itself was mostly glass. So anybody passing in the nighttime would be likely to see a blaze in the storeroom.

About two-thirds of the way toward the rear, the storeroom was divided by a transverse partition. Its front carried shelving for the storage and display of merchandise. Neither shelving nor partition reached the floor. Except for supports spaced at regular intervals, there was an open space several inches in height between the bottom of the partition and the floor.

About 8:30 on the evening in question, fire was discovered in the merchandise stored on the shelving. It furnished abundant and quick fuel in that there were many cartons of matches which were consumed. They were not safety matches.

A ‘quick stop’ was made by firemen. They entered the building from front and rear. On entering, they perceived nothing in the way of odor to indicate that kerosene or other petroleum product had been burned. But one of them discovered under the shelving a burlap sack, along with some paper, which the state would have us believe had been purposely folded in with the burlap sacking as kindling. One fireman detected the odor of kerosene on this sacking. There is no suggestion that it was present elsewhere. A chemical analysis of the burlap later disclosed the presence of a relatively minute quantity of what may have been kerosene.

There is no evidence that before the fire...