California · Penal Code

PEN §452.1: (a) Notwithstanding any other law, any person who is convicted of a felony violation of Section 452 shall be punished by a one-, two-, or three-year enhancement for each of the following circumstances

Felony

What this law says, in plain English

This statute imposes mandatory sentence enhancements of one to three years for persons convicted of felony arson violations under Section 452 when certain aggravating circumstances occur, such as prior arson convictions, injuries to emergency personnel, multiple victims, or multiple structures burned.

Read the full statutory text

(a) Notwithstanding any other law, any person who is convicted of a felony violation of Section 452 shall be punished by a one-, two-, or three-year enhancement for each of the following circumstances that is found to be true: (1) The defendant has been previously convicted of a felony violation of Section 451 or 452. (2) A firefighter, peace officer, or other emergency personnel suffered great bodily injury as a result of the offense. The additional term provided by this subdivision shall be imposed whenever applicable, including any instance in which there is a violation of subdivision (a) of Section 452. (3) The defendant proximately caused great bodily injury to more than one victim in any single violation of Section 452. The additional term provided by this subdivision shall be imposed whenever applicable, including any instance in which there is a violation of subdivision (a) of Section 452. (4) The defendant proximately caused multiple structures to burn in any single violation of Section 452. (b) The additional term specified in subdivision (a) of Section 452.1 shall not be imposed unless the existence of any fact required under this section shall be alleged in the accusatory pleading and either admitted by the defendant in open court or found to be true by the trier of fact.

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