Garcia-Rodriguez v. State

Full title: JOSE GUSTAVO GARCIA-RODRIGUEZ Appellant, v. THE STATE OF TEXAS, Appellee.

Court: Court of Appeals of Texas, Thirteenth District, Corpus Christi-Edinburg

Date published: Oct 3, 2022

No. 13-22-00145-CR (Tex. App. Oct. 3, 2022)

Opinion

13-22-00145-CR

10-03-2022

JOSE GUSTAVO GARCIA-RODRIGUEZ Appellant, v. THE STATE OF TEXAS, Appellee.

PER CURIAM

Do not publish. Tex.R.App.P. 47.2(b).

On appeal from the 40th District Court of Ellis County, Texas.

Before Justices Longoria, Hinojosa, and Silva

ORDER OF ABATEMENT

PER CURIAM

This matter is before the court on appellant Jose Gustavo Garcia-Rodriguez's motion to abate. Appellant requests this Court abate this appeal and remand the cause to the trial court with direction to enter findings of fact and conclusions of law. See Tex. Code Crim. Proc. Ann. art. 38.22, § 6.

Prior to trial, appellant filed a motion to suppress statements made during custodial interrogation, challenging the voluntariness of the statements. Although findings of fact and conclusions of law were requested, the trial court has failed to issue either. 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.

Id. Failure to enter findings of fact and conclusions of law when the voluntariness of a statement is challenged constitutes error. See Vasquez v. State, 411 S.W.3d 918, 920 (Tex. Crim. App. 2013). Accordingly, appellant's motion to abate is GRANTED.

We abate the appeal and remand the cause to the trial court for entry of findings of fact and conclusions of law on the voluntariness of appellant's statement 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 and cause a supplemental clerk's record containing the findings and conclusions to be filed with the Clerk of this Court within thirty (30) 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.