Man Charged with First-Degree Arson After Lighting Fire Next to House

A 50-year-old man who lit a fire against the side of his duplex in the 1900 block of Colorado Ave. Sunday was jailed on a first-degree felony arson charge when his behavior was deemed reckless.

According to San Angelo Fire Marshal Ross Coleman, Fire Inspector Thomas Truett was called out to David Lee McMullan’s house on April 26 for the report of an illegal burn. Upon arrival, Truett discovered McMullan had set up a sort of makeshift chimenea right next to the duplex, a fire hazard.

McMullan, who had been previously arrested in December for starting an illegal burn next to the curb on his property, was arrested on Sunday and booked into the county jail for arson with intent to damage a habitation, a first-degree felony.

“Under the penal code, it’s actually reckless behavior,” Coleman explained the charge. “He’s got this thing right against the house, he’s setting it on fire, so it’s one of those deals where the law says, ‘you knew there was a substantial and justifiable risk in your actions and you chose to do the action anyway…’ so he met the reckless intent of the arson in the penal code.”

Since being picked up for the illegal burn in December, McMullan was arrested again in February on a capias warrant, and jailed by the ASU police in March for theft of property. In the past, he’s been jailed four times for driving while intoxicated and once for marijuana possession.

McMullan rents the space he occupies in the duplex. If convicted of the arson, he faces five to 99 years in prison and a fine not to exceed $10k.