State v. Leticia Valdez

Opinion

NUMBER 13-19-00251-CR

COURT OF APPEALS

THIRTEENTH DISTRICT OF TEXAS

CORPUS CHRISTI – EDINBURG

THE STATE OF TEXAS, Appellant,

v.

LETICIA VALDEZ, Appellee.

On Appellant’s Motion to Abate Appeal and Alternative Unopposed Motion for Extension of Time to File State’s Brief.

ORDER OF ABATEMENT Before Chief Justice Contreras and Justices Hinojosa and Tijerina Order Per Curiam

Appellant, the State of Texas, has appealed the trial court’s granting of a motion

to suppress evidence filed by appellee Leticia Valdez. The cause is now before the Court

on the State’s “Motion to Abate Appeal and Alternative Unopposed Motion for Extension

of Time to File the State’s Brief.” The State asks us to abate the appeal and remand to the trial court for the entry of findings of fact and conclusions of law regarding the motion

to suppress.

Article 38.22, § 6 of the Texas Code of Criminal Procedure states in relevant part:

In all cases where a question is raised as to the voluntariness of a statement of an accused, the court must make an independent finding in the absence of the jury as to whether the statement was made under voluntary conditions. If the statement has been found to have been voluntarily made and held admissible as a matter of law and fact by the court in a hearing in the absence of the jury, the court must enter an order stating its conclusion as to whether or not the statement was voluntarily made, along with the specific finding of facts upon which the conclusion was based, which order shall be filed among the papers of the cause.

TEX. CODE CRIM. PROC. ANN. art. 38.22, § 6. Section 6 of article 38.22 is “‘mandatory in

its language and . . . it requires a trial court to file its findings of fact and conclusions of

law regarding the voluntariness of a confession whether or not the defendant objects to

the absence of such omitted filing.’” Vasquez v. State, 411 S.W.3d 918, 920, n.14 (Tex.

Crim. App. 2013).

Here, the record reflects that appellee’s motion to suppress concerned statements

to law enforcement which appellee argued were made involuntarily. The State moved for

the entry of findings of fact and conclusions of law but none appear in the record.

Having fully considered the State’s motion and the record, we conclude that the

motion to abate is meritorious and should be granted. We therefore GRANT the State’s

motion to abate. The appeal is hereby ABATED and the cause REMANDED to the trial

court for entry of findings of fact and conclusions of law pursuant to article 38.22, § 6 of

the Texas Code of Criminal Procedure. The trial court shall make its findings and

conclusions as ordered herein within THIRTY days from the date of this order. Further,

the trial court shall cause a supplemental clerk’s record containing the findings and

2 conclusions to be filed with the Clerk of this Court within SIXTY days from the date of this

order. The appeal will be reinstated upon receipt of the supplemental clerk’s record and

upon further order of this Court. The State’s “Alternative Unopposed Motion for Extension

of Time to File State’s Brief” is DENIED as moot.

PER CURIAM

Do not publish. TEX. R. APP. P. 47.2(b).

Delivered and filed the 26th day of September, 2019.