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Former college professor accused of serial arson is denied bail in California

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Re: Former college professor accused of serial arson is denied bail in California

#21

Post by ZanyProgrammer »

gruez wrote: post #12
ZanyProgrammer wrote: post #4

Granted I live on the west coast and fires have been very much on my mind in the past few years, but I do wholeheartedly support the most draconian punishments for arsonists who start wild fires. It’s going to have to be a part of our climate changed future to deter criminals.

>It’s going to have to be a part of our climate changed future to deter criminals. How's that strategy working out for deterring murderers and drug dealers?

When murderers and drug dealers make centuries long and very undesirable changes in the global climate, let me know.

Re: Former college professor accused of serial arson is denied bail in California

#22

Post by ZanyProgrammer »

gruez wrote: post #12
ZanyProgrammer wrote: post #4

Granted I live on the west coast and fires have been very much on my mind in the past few years, but I do wholeheartedly support the most draconian punishments for arsonists who start wild fires. It’s going to have to be a part of our climate changed future to deter criminals.

>It’s going to have to be a part of our climate changed future to deter criminals. How's that strategy working out for deterring murderers and drug dealers?

Of course you also assumed "draconian punishments" equates to "lack of due process". As if punishing murderers is inherently wrong and goes against your very finely tuned civil liberties instincts.

Re: Former college professor accused of serial arson is denied bail in California

#23

Post by cyral »

csomar wrote: post #14
hindsightbias wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The affidavit is pretty thorough, even before pulling his cell phone info. "A Forest Service fire investigator determined the Cascade Fire was likely the result of arson. He also noticed that on a dirt road 150 to 200 yards from the fire, a man was struggling to free his car, a black Kia Soul, after the vehicle's rear had failed to clear a partially buried boulder." If you're going to be a wildlands arsonist, best to…

So the whole proof is that he was there at the time? Shouldn't there be more proof especially that they are linking him to "all" the fires now?

The document is actually very interesting, it goes into great detail of exactly how they tracked him. There is so much evidence in it, really a good read. They ended up tracking him with a GPS tracker to prove he set the fire they charged him with.

Re: Former college professor accused of serial arson is denied bail in California

#24

Post by nawgz »

csomar wrote: post #14
hindsightbias wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The affidavit is pretty thorough, even before pulling his cell phone info. "A Forest Service fire investigator determined the Cascade Fire was likely the result of arson. He also noticed that on a dirt road 150 to 200 yards from the fire, a man was struggling to free his car, a black Kia Soul, after the vehicle's rear had failed to clear a partially buried boulder." If you're going to be a wildlands arsonist, best to…

So the whole proof is that he was there at the time? Shouldn't there be more proof especially that they are linking him to "all" the fires now?

Reading the above comment, this was the necessary point to pull his cell phone info, not link him to "all" fires; after such a suspicious interaction, the warrant was granted to pull records, and the case strengthened further.

Re: Former college professor accused of serial arson is denied bail in California

#25

Post by dyslexit »

csomar wrote: post #14
hindsightbias wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The affidavit is pretty thorough, even before pulling his cell phone info. "A Forest Service fire investigator determined the Cascade Fire was likely the result of arson. He also noticed that on a dirt road 150 to 200 yards from the fire, a man was struggling to free his car, a black Kia Soul, after the vehicle's rear had failed to clear a partially buried boulder." If you're going to be a wildlands arsonist, best to…

So the whole proof is that he was there at the time? Shouldn't there be more proof especially that they are linking him to "all" the fires now?

> Forest Service agents also measured and recorded data about the tire tread pattern left by Maynard's car — evidence that they say ties him to a string of arson wildfires.

That's linking his car to the fire. That's from the article, I'm sure the affidavit itself has more.

Re: Former college professor accused of serial arson is denied bail in California

#26

Post by R0b0t1 »

trynumber9 wrote: post #16
boomboomsubban wrote: post #10

Not the point of the story, but a college professor with three masters and a doctorate was enrolled in the EBT program. I'm sure people will doubt the use of several of his masters degrees, theater arts in particular, but that's still nuts.

Difficult to hold a job with what is apparently untreated mental illness.

That he completed the programs beforehand is what makes it surprising.

Re: Former college professor accused of serial arson is denied bail in California

#27

Post by tevonsb96 »

Does anyone know more about the mental state that inspires people to commit arson?

Drug dealing or murder often have selfish or monetary gains; but what is gained from burning the wildlands? Is it a power thing?

Calling all armchair psychologists

Re: Former college professor accused of serial arson is denied bail in California

#28

Post by rossdavidh »

donthurtme wrote: post #5

Two points here: - It's interesting how his academic background in criminology is in an area tangentially related to his own alleged social deviance -- maybe a "call of the void" type deal, in the sense that (anecdotally) some people who have a lifetime academic fixation on particular subject matter eventually reveal that it is somehow linked to their own deviant obsessions with it. - It's also interesting how many l…

The traditional name for this is "research is me-search".

Re: Former college professor accused of serial arson is denied bail in California

#30

Post by chmod775 »

What are the chances any one person would just be at all the right times in the right places, how many people on average?

To secure a conviction based on just that, you'd want to answer "around 0.01 people" to that second question as well as prove that all of these fires were in fact arson. It would mean you get the wrong guy only every one hundred (set of) fires on average.

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