State v. Blackwell, 263 So. 3d 1234

Ernest R. Blackwell was charged with misdemeanor home improvement fraud and separate felony charges (misapplication of payment by a contractor; contracting without a license) arising from the same facts involving repairs to the Calmeses’ home after Hurricane Isaac.
The Calmeses contracted with a business represented as Professional Remodeling Specialists (PRS); checks and deposits show about $54,000–$55,000 paid to PRS/Blackwell; workmanship complaints and unpaid subcontractors followed; the Calmeses later hired another contractor and took an SBA loan for $39,000.
Trial evidence included contracts bearing a licensed contractor’s number, a PRS flyer with contact information (some linked to Blackwell), bank records showing PRS deposits and withdrawals, expert testimony on defective installations, and Blackwell’s post-arrest admissions about payment and use of another’s license number.
At a simultaneous jury (felony) / bench (misdemeanor) trial, Blackwell was convicted of misdemeanor home improvement fraud by the trial court; felony convictions were later returned by a jury and are pending in a companion appeal.
The trial court sentenced Blackwell to six months imprisonment on the misdemeanor and ordered $38,900 restitution; the sentence included a prohibition on probation/suspension and the restitution minute entry misidentified the count to which restitution applied.

Issue	State's Argument	Blackwell's Argument	Held
Appellate review of misdemeanor tried with felony	Review together for judicial economy because facts overlap	Implicitly challenged overall convictions on sufficiency/mistrial grounds	Court exercised combined review; misdemeanor and felony "so intertwined" — reviewed together though opinions rendered separately
Sufficiency of evidence for misdemeanor home improvement fraud	Evidence (contracts, payments, admissions, expert testimony) proved elements	Did not brief sufficiency for misdemeanor on appeal	Defendant abandoned this issue by failing to brief it; record sufficiency affirmed under Raymo review
Trial court’s denial of mistrial based on witness mentioning pending misdemeanor charge	State defended denial in felony appeal context	Blackwell argued prejudice from reference to pending home improvement fraud charge	Issue pertains to felony appeal; not addressed in misdemeanor opinion (handled in companion felony opinion)
Sentence legality & restitution entry	State did not oppose correcting clerical/sentencing errors	Blackwell challenged aspects of sentencing/procedure	Sentence illegal to prohibit probation/suspension; appellate court amended sentence to remove that restriction and remanded to correct minute entry to reflect restitution was imposed on the misdemeanor conviction

State v. Chess, 762 So.2d 1286 (La. App. 5 Cir. 2000) (appellate jurisdiction over jury-triable cases and misdemeanor jury-trial limits)
State v. Trepagnier, 982 So.2d 185 (La. App. 5 Cir. 2008) (procedures for appellate review of misdemeanor convictions)
State v. Carroll, 213 So.3d 486 (La. App. 5 Cir. 2017) (consolidating misdemeanor and felony matters when convictions are intertwined)
State v. Jones, 128 So.3d 436 (La. App. 5 Cir. 2013) (judicial economy supports joint review when cases are intertwined)
State v. Raymo, 419 So.2d 858 (La. 1982) (sufficiency-of-the-evidence standard for appellate review)
State v. Hebert, 877 So.2d 1115 (La. App. 5 Cir. 2004) (appellate correction of illegal sentence regarding probation/suspension restrictions)