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Defendant's alleged mental illness likely be focus of defense in trial for accused arsonist

The Bakersfield Californian - 7/11/2017

July 11--When investigators arrived at a bus and vegetation in early June, a man told them they'd find the bodies of three men he'd knocked unconscious inside the burning vehicle.

Investigators found a dog's body inside the bus, but no human corpses were discovered. Questioned further, Jeffrey Doyle Hudson admitted setting the blaze and said he uses methamphetamine, according to court documents.

Hudson, 57, remains in custody on $250,000 bail. He's charged with multiple counts of arson, as well as vandalism and entering a noncommercial dwelling.

His public defender, Paul Cadman, said on Tuesday he finds it "curious" the disparity between how people suffering from physical pain are treated compared to someone like his client, who he said has mental illness.

He said a person with physical pain can respond to an emergency room without trouble.

"But when a person has a mental health crisis they may not event know they're having one at the time, and yet our district attorney wishes to criminalize this situation in which only property was damaged," Cadman said.

He said he takes "full umbrage" at the life term Hudson faces.

According to a probable cause declaration filed in court by a Kern County Fire investigator, firefighters were called to a structure fire at 4:20 a.m.June 4 at 30121 Highway 178 in Onyx. They arrived to find a bus fully ablaze with fire spreading to nearby vegetation.

They doused the blaze, and Hudson was found at a different location breaking into property, the documents said. He said three men attacked him and he knocked them out with a baseball bat and left their bodies on the bus.

After that story was found to be untrue, Hudson said he set fire to fabric inside the bus by "spraying wasp spray like a flame torch," the documents said.

The property owner told investigators she didn't give Hudson permission to burn the bus or other property on her land, the documents said. She said she left Hudson after they had a fight on May 30.

A motion for pretrial discovery is set for Aug. 2, with a trial set to begin Aug. 21.

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