Opinion
NO. 14-20-00154-CR
12-10-2020
SHERWIN SIMPLE, Appellant v. THE STATE OF TEXAS, Appellee
On Appeal from the 239th District Court Brazoria County, Texas
Trial Court Cause No. 85187-CR
ABATEMENT ORDER
The State has filed a motion to abate this appeal and remand for the trial court to enter findings of fact and conclusions of law on the voluntariness of appellant's statement. The record reflects the trial court did not make findings of fact and conclusions of law on the voluntariness of appellant's statement. Article 38.22, section 6 of the Texas Code of Criminal Procedure requires the trial court to make written fact findings and conclusions of law as to whether a challenged statement was made voluntarily, even if appellant did not request findings and conclusions or object to their absence. Tex. Code Crim. Proc. art. 38.22 § 6; Urias v. State, 155 S.W.3d 141, 142 (Tex. Crim. App. 2004). The statute is mandatory and the proper procedure to correct the error is to abate the appeal and direct the trial court to make the required findings and conclusions. See Tex. R. App. P. 44.4; Wicker v. State, 740 S.W.2d 779, 784 (Tex. Crim. App. 1987).
Accordingly, we grant appellant's motion and direct the trial court to reduce to writing its findings of fact and conclusions of law on the voluntariness of appellant's statement and have a supplemental clerk's record containing those findings filed with the clerk of this court within thirty days of the date of this order.
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 of fact and conclusions of law are filed in this court. The court also will consider an appropriate motion to reinstate the appeal filed by either party.
PER CURIAM Panel consists of Chief Justice Frost and Justices Jewell and Poissant.