Opinion
10-21-00203-CR 10-21-00204-CR10-21-00205-CR 10-21-00206-CR
03-31-2022
JOSEPH DEMETRIUS FARRIS, Appellant v. THE STATE OF TEXAS, Appellee
From the 12th District Court Madison County, Texas Trial Court Nos. 18-13064, 18-13066, 18-13068, 18-13070
Before Chief Justice Gray, Justice Johnson, and Justice
ABATEMENT ORDER
PER CURIAM
Pursuant to a plea agreement, Appellant Joseph Demetrius Farris pleaded guilty to possession of child pornography in Trial Court No. 18-13064; to aggravated sexual assault of a child in Trial Court No. 18-13066; to aggravated sexual assault of a child in Trial Court No. 18-13068; and to possession of child pornography in Trial Court No. 18-13070. The trial court assessed Farris's punishment at ten years, life, life, and ten years in prison, respectively. Farris appeals in each of these causes from the trial court's denial of his pretrial motion to suppress and from the trial court's grant of the State's pretrial motion to exclude testimony of the affirmative defense of duress.
After the clerk's record, the reporter's record, a supplemental clerk's record, and the appellant's brief had been filed in these appeals, we received a second supplemental clerk's record containing a State's request for the trial court clerk to supplement the clerk's record with a copy of the "Findings of the Court." The State's request was filed with the trial court clerk on February 9, 2022. The second supplemental clerk's record then contained the "Findings of the Court." The findings are not dated but were file-stamped by the trial court clerk on February 16, 2022.
At a hearing on May 12, 2021, Farris had made an oral request for specific findings on the trial court's ruling. Farris has also now filed a motion for leave to file a supplemental appellant's brief because the findings were not part of the appellate record until after he filed his appellant's brief.
However, it is unclear when the trial court signed the findings and whether they were signed while the trial court had jurisdiction over these causes. Accordingly, in an abundance of caution, we abate this cause to the trial court for entry of its findings within 28 days of the date of this Order. A supplemental clerk's record, containing the trial court's findings, shall be filed within 35 days of the date of this Order.