Conn. Gen. Stat. » Title 53a — PENAL CODE · Chapter 952 — Penal Code: Offenses
Connecticut General Statutes

Conn. Gen. Stat. § 53a-54d (2026)

Arson murder

✓ current as of May 2026
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A person is guilty of murder when, acting either alone or with one or more persons, he commits arson and, in the course of such arson, causes the death of a person. Notwithstanding any other provision of the general statutes, any person convicted of murder under this section who was eighteen years of age or older at the time of the offense shall be punished by life imprisonment and shall not be eligible for parole.

(P.A. 79-570, S. 1; P.A. 15-84, S. 8.)

History: P.A. 15-84 added provision re person 18 years of age or older at time of offense, effective October 1, 2015, and applicable to any person convicted prior to, on or after that date.

Cited. 191 C. 636. Does not violate defendant's right to due process and equal protection. 196 C. 655. Cited. Id., 667. When two or more persons are the victims of a single episode, there are as many offenses as there are victims. 198 C. 92. Cited. 204 C. 377; 210 C. 22; Id., 519; 211 C. 258; Id., 289; 213 C. 161; 214 C. 378; 216 C. 699; 237 C. 694; 238 C. 828; 240 C. 727; 241 C. 702.

Cited. 41 CA 476.

Cited. 42 CS 426.

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Notes of Decisions
Cited in 87 cases (5 in the last 5 years), 1983–2026 · leading case: State v. Dupree, 495 A.2d 691 (Conn. 1985).
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State v. Dupree, 495 A.2d 691 (Conn. 1985). · cites it 18× “This is an appeal by the state, with the permission of the trial court, from the judgment sen *657 tencing the defendant, after conviction by a jury of two counts of arson murder in violation of General Statutes § 53a-54d, to a term of life imprisonment suspended after…”
State v. Madera, 503 A.2d 136 (Conn. 1985). · cites it 11× “The defendant has appealed from his conviction upon a conditional plea of nolo contendere to an indictment charging him with fourteen counts of arson murder in violation of General Statutes § 53a-54d, 1 one for each of the victims who died in the fire of an apartment building in…”
State v. Williams, 782 A.2d 149 (Conn. App. Ct. 2001). · cites it 8× “1 The panel found him guilty of murder in violation of General Statutes § 53a-54a 2 as charged in the first count of the information, arson murder in violation of General Statutes § 53a-54d 3 as charged in the second count and arson in *61 the third degree in violation of…”
State v. Skakel, 888 A.2d 985 (Conn. 2006). · cites it 4× “, concurring in part arid dissenting in part) (Agreeing with the majority “that capital felony is a form of the generic crime of murder, as is arson murder under General Statutes § 53a-54d, and indeed felony murder under General Statutes § 53a-54c.”
State v. Delossantos, 559 A.2d 164 (Conn. 1989). · cites it 6× “The state appealed, arguing that the phrase in § 53a-54d that one convicted of arson murder must be “punished by life imprisonment and shall not be eligible for parole” precluded the trial court from suspending any portion of the life sentence. Id., 658. We held that § 53a-35a…”
State v. Beavers, 963 A.2d 956 (Conn. 2009). · cites it 5× “1 The defendant, *388 Buddy Beavers, appeals directly to this court 2 from the judgment of guilty, rendered after a jury trial, of arson murder in violation of General Statutes § 53a-54d, 3 attempted murder in violation of General Statutes §§ 53a-54a and 53a-49, 4 and arson in…”
State v. Jones, 662 A.2d 1199 (Conn. 1995). · cites it 6× “The attribution of such an intent to the legislature rewrites our current legislative scheme regarding capital felonies, and denigrates the care with which the legislature defined the crime of capital felony and the sentence that follows conviction of the most serious crime in…”
State v. Young, 469 A.2d 1189 (Conn. 1983). · cites it 6× “” The defendant has referred to the 1979 amendments to the penal code which removed arson as one of the felonies designated in § 53a-54c and created a separate crime of “arson murder” by the enactment of General Statutes § 53a-54d. 8 He claims that the omission of the “in…”
State v. George J., 910 A.2d 931 (Conn. 2006). · cites it 4× “At the time of the offenses with which the defendant in the present case was charged, there was a five year statute of limitations for “any offense, except a capital felony, a class A felony or a violation of section 53a-54d [arson murder], for which the punishment is or may be…”
State v. Angel C., 715 A.2d 652 (Conn. 1998). · cites it 5× “Pursuant to § 46b-127 (a), automatic transfer of a child to the criminal docket is mandatory if the child is charged with having committed a capital, class A or class B felony, 2 or arson murder *97 as defined by General Statutes § 53a-54d, 3 after he or she has attained the age…”
Johnson v. Comm'r of Corr., 786 A.2d 1091 (Conn. 2002). · cites it 3× “general statutes is *806 repealed and the following is substituted in lieu thereof: “(b) (1) No person convicted of any of the following offenses, which was committed on or after July 1,1981, shall be eligible for parole under subsection (a) of this section: Capital felony, as…”
State v. Coltherst, 820 A.2d 1024 (Conn. 2003). · cites it 3× “Therefore, we concluded in Harrell that the defendant’s conviction for arson murder in violation of General Statutes § 53a-54d could not serve as a predicate murder for purposes of the capital felony statute.”
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