Opinion
No. 01-05-00616-CV
Order issued: February 14, 2007.
Original Proceeding on Petition for Writ of Habeas Corpus.
The underlying lawsuit is In the Interest of Brandy Marie McDonald and Kassie Ann McDonald, Minor Children, No. 9457645 (310th Dist. Ct., Harris County, Tex.).
Panel consists of Chief Justice Radack and Justices Jennings and Hanks.
MEMORANDUM ORDER
Relator, Mark Taylor McDonald, requests this Court order the refund of the $500 cash appearance bond posted pursuant to this Court's order on June 30, 2005. The purpose of the bond was to assure relator's presence before the Court in the original proceeding for habeas corpus relief he filed with this Court on June 27, 2005. We remand the matter to the trial court for findings of fact and creation of a record to assist this Court in determining to whom the $500 cash should be released.
The unauthenticated, uncertified documents relator has attached to his motion for bond refund create a question of fact regarding whether the $500 should be paid to relator or Katrina Lynn Chambers. The bail bond, itself, is a pre-printed, fill-in-the blank document with relator's name typed in, identifying him as principal and surety on this cash bond, but it bears no signature in the places for the principal's and surety's signatures. The next document attached, "Notice to Persons Depositing Cash to be Used as Bail," states:
X CASH IN LIEU OF SURETIES
I am giving the sum of $500 to MCDONALD, MARK TAYLOR, JR., Defendant, to be used by Defendant, in lieu of sureties, to secure release from jail.
and it is signed, Katrina L. Chambers. The next document, the "Official Receipt," shows $500 as the amount paid and relator's name under "Customer Name." The final attached document, "CASH BOND DEFENDANT AND DEPOSITORS NAME AND ADDRESS INFORMATION SHEET" has relator's name in the space for "Defendant's Name," but "Chambers, Katrina Lynn" in the space for "Depositor's Name."
We remand this matter to the trial court to conduct a hearing within 30 days of the date of this order to make appropriate findings and recommendations, and to prepare a record of the proceedings that addresses whose money paid the $500 cash bond posted on June 30, 2005, and to whom the $500 posted for the cash bond should be remitted. The trial court is directed within 35 days of the date of this order to file a supplemental clerk's record and/or reporter's record containing the trial court's findings and recommendations on this question.
It is so ORDERED.