Cases | People v. Rivera, 968 P.2d 1061 (Colo. Ct. App. 1997) | 2018
The prosecution initially filed a juvenile delinquency petition premised on defendant’s having committed acts that would constitute first degree arson, second degree burglary, and criminal mischief in connection with a fire that destroyed an abandoned school building. Defendant’s case was transferred from juvenile court to district court. He was later convicted of first degree arson, criminal mischief, and second degree criminal trespass, and ordered to pay $800.675 in restitution. On appeal, defendant claimed that: (1) the court failed to consider, as required by the Children's Code, whether a large amount of restitution would cause him serious hardship or injustice; (2) the amount of restitution was excessive because the school building was in a state of deterioration at the time of the fire; (3) the amount of restitution should be reduced because the school district was reimbursed by its insurance company for most of its costs; and (4) the district court erred by failing to take into account his inability to pay. The appellate court held that: (1) the court was not required to consider the Children’s Code provision in setting the amount of restitution because the Code ceased to govern the proceeding once the case was transferred to district court; (2) the restitution amount fixed by the court was not based on the value of the building, but rather on the actual cost of demolition and debris removal as established by evidence in the record; (3) there was no error in the court's considering the insurer’s loss in determining the amount of restitution. The General Assembly amended the relevant statute to clarify that the term “victim” includes insurers and other parties who have suffered a loss because of a contractual relationship with the immediate victim; and (4) the statutory provision that formerly required the court to consider the defendant's ability to pay restitution did not directly apply because defendant was not sentenced to probation.