Man convicted of arson after burning Jewish mezuzah at Berkeley religious study center

A jury has convicted a 45-year-old man of arson after he used a pocket torch to burn a Jewish religious scroll at the entrance of a Berkeley study center in February, the Alameda County District Attorney’s Office said.

Jurors found David William Denton guilty of arson in connection with the Feb. 6 blaze at a religious study center on Bancroft Way, where authorities said he vandalized and set fire to a mezuzah scroll attached to a doorway. The fire damaged the religious item, prosecutors said Tuesday.