By Blake Deshazo | The Selma Times-Journal

A Selma man was found guilty of arson Wednesday for setting his girlfriend’s house on fire in December 2014.

According to Dallas County District Attorney Michael Jackson, a jury found Clement Heard guilty after a two-day trial in Circuit Judge Collins Pettaway’s courtroom.

“Thankfully nobody lost their life after Heard decided to burn up the place out of a fit of drunken rage,” Jackson said. “Being locked up in jail should sober him up after he is sentenced.”

According to court documents, officers were dispatched to a home on the 400 block of Gary Avenue for domestic violence.

Heard shot out the window of his girlfriend’s home in an attempt to get inside the residence and lit it on fire.

According to the affidavit, when officers arrived on scene the house was on fire and Heard was cussing out his girlfriend. Officers took Heard into custody and put the fire out with a water hose. The incident report stated Heard had been drinking before he attacked his girlfriend with a broom handle, shot out the window and lit the house on fire with the victim and children inside.

According to Jackson, Pettaway will sentence Heard after a pre-sentence investigation and report are completed.