Thomas Andrews Evans II v. State

• Court: Court of Appeals of Texas
• Decided: February 20, 2014
• Docket: 14-13-00642-CR
• Status: Published

Opinion

Motion Granted; Abatement Order filed February 20, 2014.

In The

Fourteenth Court of Appeals ____________

NO. 14-13-00642-CR ____________

THOMAS ANDREWS EVANS II, Appellant

V.

THE STATE OF TEXAS, Appellee

On Appeal from the County Court at Law No 2 Fort Bend County, Texas Trial Court Cause No. 540791102

ABATEMENT ORDER

Appellant is challenging the denial of his pretrial motion to suppress evidence. No findings of fact or conclusions of law were filed, although they were requested by appellant. See State v. Cullen, 195 S.W.3d 696, 699 (Tex. Crim. App. 2006). The State has filed a motion to abate and remand for entry of findings of fact and conclusions of law. The motion is granted. In Cullen, the Court of Criminal Appeals held that “upon the request of the losing party on a motion to suppress evidence, the trial court shall state its essential findings. By ‘essential findings,’ we mean that the trial court must make findings of fact and conclusions of law adequate to provide an appellate court with a basis upon which to review the trial court’s application of the law to the facts.” Id. Accordingly, we issue the following order. We abate the appeal, remand this case to the trial court, and direct the trial court to reduce to writing its findings of fact and conclusions of law on the denial of appellant’s motion to suppress. See State v. Oages, 210 S.W.3d 643, 644 (Tex. Crim. App. 2006); Blocker v. State, 231 S.W.3d 595, 597-98 (Tex. App.—Waco 2007, order). The trial court is to see that a supplemental clerk’s record containing those findings is filed with the clerk of this Court within 30 days of the date of this order. Appellant’s supplemental brief, if any, shall be due 20 days after the supplemental clerk’s record is filed. The State’s brief shall be due 30 days after appellant’s supplemental brief is filed. The appeal is abated, treated as a closed case, and removed from this Court’s active docket. The appeal will be reinstated on this Court’s active docket when the trial court’s findings and conclusions are filed in this Court. The Court will also consider an appropriate motion to reinstate the appeal filed by either party.

PER CURIAM