18 U.S.C. § 1855
Timber set afire
Whoever, willfully and without authority, sets on fire any timber, underbrush, or grass or other inflammable material upon the public domain or upon any lands owned or leased by or under the partial, concurrent, or exclusive jurisdiction of the United States, or under contract for purchase or for the acquisition of which condemnation proceedings have been instituted, or upon any Indian reservation or lands belonging to or occupied by any tribe or group of Indians under authority of the United States, or upon any Indian allotment while the title to the same shall be held in trust by the Government, or while the same shall remain inalienable by the allottee without the consent of the United States, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than five years, or both.
This section shall not apply in the case of a fire set by an allottee in the reasonable exercise of his proprietary rights in the allotment.
Notes of Decisions
Cited in 30
cases (5 in the last 5 years), 1977–2024 · leading case: United States v. Jack Carl Velte, United States of Am. v. Jack Carl Velte, 331 F.3d 673 (9th Cir. 2003).
United States v. Jack Carl Velte, United States of Am. v. Jack Carl Velte, 331 F.3d 673 (9th Cir. 2003). “Based in large part on this circumstantial and testimonial evidence, Velte was convicted by a jury of willfully setting fire to federal land without authority, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1855 . Notwithstanding the jury’s determination, the district court subsequently entered an…”
United States v. Gary A. Newman, 6 F.3d 623 (9th Cir. 1993). “Newman appeals his conviction and sentence, following a jury trial, for one count of setting a fire willfully and without authority in a National Forest in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1855 . We have jurisdiction over this timely appeal under 28 U.”
United States v. Allen, 788 F.3d 61 (2d Cir. 2015). “The Proceedings Below In an indictment filed on September 19, 2012, Alen was charged with knowingly and willfully conspiring with other members of the WFD, including Burnham and Woods, to willfully set on fire underbrush and grass on the public domain, in violation of 18 U.S.C.…”
United States v. Casey Evans, 74 F.4th 597 (4th Cir. 2023). “” 18 U.S.C. § 1855 . A jury convicted Casey Evans of violating this statute after he started a brush fire that burned 70 acres of the Nantahala National Forest in western North Carolina.”
United States v. Warr, 530 F.3d 1152 (9th Cir. 2008). “TALLMAN, Circuit Judge: Jonah Micah Warr (“Warr”) appeals his 120-month sentence after pleading guilty to nine counts of wildland arson in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1855 . 2 He makes three *1155 arguments on appeal.”
United States v. Holmes, 646 F.3d 659 (9th Cir. 2011). “, a volunteer fireman, on six counts of setting public lands afire, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1855 . He burned about a thousand acres owned by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) that were covered by sagebrush and other vegetation.”
United States v. Cotto, 957 F.3d 122 (2d Cir. 2020). “2015) (citations omitted) (considering whether 18 U.S.C. § 1855 , which imposes criminal penalties for willfully setting fire to federal land, requires that the defendant know the land is federal).”
United States v. Grant, 318 F. Supp. 2d 1042 (D. Mont. 2004). “§ 844 (f)(1), and eight counts of willfully setting fire to lands within the partial or concurrent jurisdiction of the United States, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1855 . On October 30, 2003, Grant signed an Acknowledgment of Rights Waived by Plea of Guilty, in which he stated, “I…”
United States v. Robert W. Launder, 743 F.2d 686 (9th Cir. 1984). “18 U.S.C. § 1855 (1982). Under section 1855 it appears not to matter if a fire gets out of control or if the defendant allows the fire to get out of control — it is sufficient that the defendant wilfully started the fire.”
United States v. Ricardo Beraun-Panez, 812 F.2d 578 (9th Cir. 1987). “FLETCHER, Circuit Judge: Ricardo Beraun-Panez was charged with setting fire to vegetation on property owned by the United States, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1855 . Upon Beraun-Panez’s motion, the district court suppressed his statements to two law enforcement officials who…”
United States v. Barton, 366 F.3d 1160 (10th Cir. 2004). “Defendant Terry Lynn Barton pled guilty to setting fire to inflammable materials on federal lands, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1855 , and making a false statement within the jurisdiction of the United States, in violation of 18 U.”
United States v. Gary A. Newman, 943 F.2d 1155 (9th Cir. 1991). “On October 18, 1989, a grand jury indicted Newman under 18 U.S.C. § 1855 . After a five day trial, a jury found Newman guilty on March 26,1990.”
Annotations are extracted automatically from the opinions in the
Syfert caselaw corpus and ranked by authority, recency, and
treatment. Dots show Syfertize treatment of the citing case itself.