People v. Buchwitz CA2/3

BACKGROUND

I. Factual background

On January 15, 2014, Buchwitz, who was with a woman, rented Room 48 on the second floor of the Galaxy Motel. About 6:00 p.m., tenant Timothy Star complained about something coming into his room. Another tenant, Leslie Jenei, was in Room 49, which shared a wall with Room 48. Jenei heard an explosion and saw a “flash of light” “like a big flame.” Smoke came out of Jenei’s wall heater, and he smelled a “very strong chemical odor.” He knocked on Room 48’s door. A woman answered and said everyone was ok. But Jenei heard a man near the bathroom say he’d burnt his face. A few minutes later, the man and woman left “very fast” in a dark pickup truck. Larry Argo heard the explosion and saw flames shoot from the bathroom window. On his way to the room, Argo ran into the motel’s owner, Ramesh Patel. Patel opened the door to Room 48, which was full of smoke. Smoke and flames were coming from the closet, so Argo and Patel got a hose and put the fire out. There was a man in the bathroom who “scrambled around in there for a little bit trying to put the flames out.” Room 48 suffered fire damage. In the room, police officers found a Dole pineapple bottle…