People of Michigan v. Scott Weston Esch

── People of Michigan v. Scott Weston Esch ── Court: Michigan Court of Appeals Date: May 15, 2026 Category: General If this opinion indicates that it is “FOR PUBLICATION,” it is subject to revision until final publication in the Michigan Appeals Reports. STATE OF MICHIGAN COURT OF APPEALS PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF MICHIGAN, UNPUBLISHED May 15, 2026 Plaintiff-Appellee, 12:45 PM v No. 374107 Ingham Circuit Court SCOTT WESTON ESCH, LC No. 24-000105-FH Defendant-Appellant. Before: KOROBKIN, P.J., and RIORDAN and MARIANI, JJ. PER CURIAM. Defendant appeals by right his jury-trial conviction of second-degree arson, MCL 750.73(1), as well as his sentence of 45 to 240 months’ imprisonment for that conviction. Defendant argues that there was insufficient evidence presented at trial to support his conviction, that the trial court reversibly erred by admitting certain testimony into evidence at trial, and that the trial court misscored offense variables (OVs) 1 and 2 when sentencing him. We affirm. I. BACKGROUND In August 2023, defendant was living with his father and uncle in their Lansing home. Defendant slept in the basement, his father’s bedroom was on the ground floor, and his uncle lived on the second floor. Defendant’s father testified that, although the dynamics among the three were “[a]ll right for most of the time,” there had been “some issues with calling the police for [defendant’s] actions” and the father had initiated eviction proceedings to remove defendant from the home. Both the father and uncle testified that defendant was “[p]robably frustrated” with this development. In the early morning hours of August 22, 2023, after the decision had been made to evict him, defendant woke up his father and uncle and alerted them to a fire in the basement. The father and uncle each tried to douse the flames, and the father could see that the smoke was coming from a piece of furniture in a corner. Ultimately, all three exited the house and waited for the fire department to arrive. No one else was at the house that night. Defendant’s uncle testified that, -1- while they were waiting outside, defendant—unprovoked and unprompted—told him, “I know you think that I did it,” referring to fire. Captain Matthew Mansberger of the Lansing Fire Department was called to investigate the fire. At trial, he was qualified, without objection, as an expert in fire investigation. Mansberger testified that, during his investigation, he found no sign of smoking or the use of candles inside the home, and that defendant informed him that defendant did his smoking outside. Mansberger also did not find any indication that the electrical outlets, cords, appliances, or gas line identified during the investigation caused the fire. Based on his investigation, Mansberger determined that the fire originated underneath a desk in the basement and that none of the other items on or around the desk, such as an unplugged lamp, batteries, or a trashcan, served as the source of the fire. Mansberger also noted that there was an unused fire extinguisher in the bedroom area of the basement. And because he ruled out every possible ignition source or heat source in the area that could have possibly caused the fire, Mansberger concluded that the fire was incendiary—that is, intentionally set. More specifically, Mansberger determined that the fire was caused by a human hand using an “open flame device” that had been removed from the area of the fire’s origin. Mansberger was also able to determine that a “combustible fuel” was used to start the fi