Opinion
No. 10-11-00217-CR
02-21-2012
EX PARTE ESTEBAN REYNA
From the County Court
Navarro County, Texas
Trial Court No. 35561
ABATEMENT ORDER
This is an appeal of the trial court's denial of Esteban Reyna's application for writ of habeas corpus. Reyna's application asserts that in 2010 he was charged with a felony DWI based on two prior DWI convictions, including the underlying 1990 misdemeanor conviction that is the subject of his habeas application.
The gist of Reyna's request for habeas relief in the form of setting aside this 1990 conviction is that his guilty plea was involuntary because he did not (and still cannot) speak, read, or write English, that no interpreter was present for his waiver and guilty plea, that the trial judge was aware that Reyna did not speak or understand English, that he was not advised of his right to counsel and to a jury trial, and that he pleaded guilty based on simple instructions from his bail bondsman that, if he pleaded guilty, he would not go to jail.
Despite issuing detailed findings and conclusions, the trial court, while denying Reyna habeas relief, did not specifically address whether Reyna's guilty plea was involuntary, which is the crux of his habeas claim.
We thus abate this appeal and remand this case to the trial court for necessary hearings, if any, and for the trial court to issue additional findings of fact and conclusions of law on whether Reyna's guilty plea was involuntary. Any necessary hearings shall be conducted within 21 days of the date of this order. The supplemental clerk's record containing the additional findings of fact and conclusions of law and any supplemental reporter's records are ordered to be filed within 35 days of the date of this order.
PER CURIAM Before Chief Justice Gray,
Justice Davis, and
Justice Scoggins
Abated
Do not publish