Howard Martin Harris v. State

• Court: Court of Appeals of Texas
• Decided: December 30, 2014
• Docket: 14-14-00391-CR
• Status: Published

Opinion

Abatement Order filed December 30, 2014.

In The

Fourteenth Court of Appeals ____________

NO. 14-14-00391-CR NO. 14-14-00392-CR ____________

HOWARD MARTIN HARRIS, Appellant

V.

THE STATE OF TEXAS, Appellee

On Appeal from the 212th District Court Galveston County, Texas Trial Court Cause Nos. 14CR0154 & 12CR1863

ABATEMENT ORDER The records in these appeals do not contain the trial court’s findings of fact and conclusions of law on the voluntariness of appellant’s statement. Article 38.22, section 6 of the Texas Code of Criminal Procedure requires the trial court to make written fact findings and conclusions of law as to whether a challenged statement was made voluntarily, even if appellant did not request them or object to their absence. Tex. Code Crim. Proc. art. 38.22 ' 6; Urias v. State, 155 S.W.3d 141, 142 (Tex. Crim. App. 2004). The statute is mandatory and the proper procedure to correct the error is to abate the appeal and direct the trial court to make the required findings and conclusions. See Tex. R. App. P. 44.4; Wicker v. State, 740 S.W.2d 779, 784 (Tex. Crim. App. 1987).

Accordingly, the trial court is directed to reduce to writing its findings of fact and conclusions of law on the voluntariness of appellant’s statement, if it has not already done so, and have a supplemental clerk’s record containing those findings filed with the clerk of this Court on or before January 30, 2015.

The appeals are abated, treated as closed cases, and removed from this Court’s active docket. The appeals will be reinstated on this Court’s active docket when the trial court’s findings and recommendations are filed in this Court. The Court will also consider an appropriate motion to reinstate the appeals filed by either party.

PER CURIAM