Anderson, Adam

• Court: Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas
• Decided: November 7, 2007
• Docket: PD-1213-07
• Status: Published

Opinion

IN THE COURT OF CRIMINAL APPEALS

OF TEXAS

NO. PD-1213-07 ADAM ANDERSON, Appellant

v.

THE STATE OF TEXAS

ON APPELLANT'S PETITION FOR DISCRETIONARY REVIEW

FROM THE THIRD COURT OF APPEALS

TRAVIS COUNTY

Per curiam.

O P I N I O N

Appellant was charged with aggravated sexual assault. He filed a pretrial motion to suppress a statement which he gave to police. The trial court denied the motion, and Appellant was convicted and sentenced to 23 years in prison. On appeal, Appellant argued that the trial court erred in failing to enter findings of fact or conclusions of law as required by Art. 38.22, § 6. The Court of Appeals affirmed, holding that the trial court was under no obligation to follow that statute because Appellant was not in custody at the time he gave his statement. Anderson v. State, __ S.W.3d __ (Tex. App. - Austin, No. 03-06-00496-CR, delivered July 13, 2007). The Court of Appeals relied on White v. State, 874 S.W.2d 229 (Tex. App. - Houston [14^th Dist.]), pet. dism'd, improvidently granted, 890 S.W.2d 69 (Tex. Crim. App. 1994).

Appellant has filed a petition for discretionary review contending that the Court of Appeals erred in relying on White because that holding is no longer valid after this Court's opinion in Terrazas v. State, 4 S.W.3d 720 (Tex. Crim. App. 1999). In Terrazas, this Court held that Art. 38.22, § 6, applies to "all cases" and is not limited to custodial statements. Appellant is correct that the Court of Appeals erred to reject his claim solely on the grounds that he was not in custody at the time he gave his statement.

Accordingly, we grant Appellant's petition for discretionary review, vacate the judgment of the Court of Appeals, and remand this case to the Court of Appeals in light of our opinion in Terrazas.

DATE DELIVERED: NOVEMBER 7, 2007

DO NOT PUBLISH