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Supreme Court of Louisiana
FOR IMMEDIATE NEWS RELEASE FROM: CLERK OF SUPREME COURT OF LOUISIANA The Opinions handed down on the 13th day of March, 2012, are as follows: PER CURIAM: NEWS RELEASE #014

2011-K -1040

STATE OF LOUISIANA v. JOHN COLVIN (Parish of Orleans) (Felony theft) Accordingly, the decision of the Fourth Circuit is reversed, the sentences imposed by the trial court are reinstated, and this case is remanded for purposes of execution of sentence. COURT OF APPEAL DECISION REVERSED; SENTENCES REINSTATED; REMANDED

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SUPREME COURT OF LOUSIANA NO. 11-K-1040 STATE OF LOUISIANA V. JOHN COLVIN On Writ of Certiorari to the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeal PER CURIAM: In what the state termed particularly egregious and predatory acts of contractor fraud in New Orleans following Hurricane Katrina, 63-year-old defendant /respondent, a former elected state representative in Alabama, entered guilty pleas in November 2009, to six counts of felony theft in violation of La.R.S. 14:67. The total loss to the six victims came to over $250,000, much of it Road Home money distributed to homeowners to rebuild in the aftermath of the storm. The trial court ordered a presentence investigation and on February 12, 2010, conducted a sentencing hearing at which the victims on each count, or members of their family, testified about their losses. The defense called several witnesses in mitigation. At the close of the hearing, the trial court sentenced respondent on each count to consecutive terms of 10 years imprisonment at hard labor, for a total of 60 years imprisonment at hard labor. On appeal, the Fourth Circuit affirmed respondent's convictions but vacated his sentences as excessive and remanded the case to the trial court for resentencing. State v. Colvin, 10-1092 (La. App. 4th Cir. 4/20/11), 65 So.3d 669. We granted the state's application to review that decision and reverse for reasons that follow.

The record below, including transcripts of the preliminary examination conducted on August 3, 2009, the sentencing hearing conducted on February 12, 2010, and the presentence report, reveals that in the fall of 2007 and spring of 2008 respondent entered into a series of construction contracts with homeowners in New Orleans attempting to rebuild after Hurricane Katrina. Respondent held himself out as a licensed contractor doing business as Colvin Modular Homes, LLC. However, information provided by Carl Bourke, a Residential Compliance Supervisor for the State Licensing Board for Contractors, indicated that respondent was not then, nor ever, a licensed contractor in Louisiana, although Louisiana law required him to register if he undertook home improvement contracting services. La.R.S. 37:2175.2(A) ("No person shall undertake, offer to undertake, or ag ree to perform home improvement contracting services unless registered with and approved by the Residential Building Contractors Subcommittee of the State Licensing Board for Contractors as a home improvement contractor."). Louisiana law also prohibited respondent from "[o]perating without a certificate of registration issued by the subcommittee," La. R.S. 37:2175.3(A)(1), or from "[m]aking any material misrepresentation in the procurement of a contract," La.R.S. 37:2175.3(A)(4), or from "[m]aking a false representation that the person is a state licensed general contractor." La.R.S. 37:2175.3(A)(8). The present contract amounts generally exceeded $100,000, had no completion dates, required the homeowners to secure insurance, and entailed substantial down payments. As documented in the testimony at the sentencing hearing, in the majority of the six cases, the homeowners paid tens of thousands of dollars for little or nothing. Brenda Turner gave respondent a total of $40,000 for "five loads of sand" on her lot, and "that's all" she received. Willie King's parents gave respondent $43,200 in return for which respondent "placed four stakes and ran string from the four stakes," before disappearing. Ida Warfield Kirklon paid respondent at total of 2

$39,400 for some holes dug on her property, "no ribbon, nothing. . . . just dug up with holes, that was it." Her loss meant that she had gone into her retirement savings in an attempt to rebuild not only for herself but also for her son, who had developed mental problems, including depression, "because he's constantly upset and talks about the fact that we don't have a house." Emily Marshall gave

respondent $47,200, after which he "dug up the ground, put down a couple of 2 x 4's, strung some string around it, but nothing else was done." On the remaining counts, Alton Joseph made an initial payment of $45,000, then paid an additional $18,500 for a foundation slab and a shed placed on a new piece of property he purchased with respondent's help when he refunded $5,000 of Joseph's money. While Joseph waited for his modular home, respondent also paid for his rent for six months until he disappeared altogether with the rest of Joseph's money, after which Joseph paid $49,000 to a new contractor, who was apparently associated with respondent, to build his home, "only fixing the weatherboards on the outside, do the plumbing work and electrical work and then we had to take it from there." He and his wife moved in on Christmas day but t hey had no

electricity or water. They "put a mattress in the kitchen, lived in a house like that, a shell, and worked on it a little at a time." Annette Rainey paid respondent

$50,000 in Road Home money in September 2007, with the understanding that she would be in her new home by Christmas. Respondent put a foundation on her

property but nothing more, and at the time of sentencing, Rainey still was not in a new home. As complaints poured into the Contractor Fraud Unit of the Orleans Parish District Attorney's Office, warrants issued for respondent's arrest on November 14, 2008. By that time, respondent had returned to his home state of Alabama, where local authorities arrested him after receiving copies of the warrants issued in

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