Opinion
NUMBER 13-15-00173-CR
02-10-2016
RICHARD LEE LONGORIA, Appellant, v. THE STATE OF TEXAS, Appellee.
On appeal from the 156th District Court of Bee County, Texas.
ORDER ABATING APPEAL
Before Chief Justice Valdez and Justices Rodriguez and Benavides
OrderPer Curiam
During trial, appellant Richard Lee Longoria objected to the admission of a videotaped statement he gave to law enforcement officials. Outside the presence of the jury, after reviewing the statement and hearing testimony regarding the statement, the trial court denied Longoria's objection. But the trial court did not enter findings of fact or conclusions of law regarding the voluntariness of Longoria's statement.
Relying on article 38.23, section 6 of the Texas Code of Criminal Procedure, Longoria questioned the voluntariness of his statement. See TEX. CODE CRIM. PROC. ANN. art. 38.22, § 6 (West, Westlaw through R.S. 2015). Under article 38.22, in all cases where the accused raises a question regarding the voluntariness of his statement, the trial 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." Id.; Vasquez v. State, 411 S.W.3d 918, 920 (Tex. Crim. App. 2013) (determining that there are no exceptions to article 38.22's requirement that written findings are required in all cases concerning voluntariness). Because the trial court did not make specific factual findings regarding the voluntariness of Longoria's statement, this Court must abate the appeal and remand for an evidentiary hearing on the voluntariness issue. See TEX. CODE CRIM. PROC. ANN. art. 38.22, § 6; Vasquez, 411 S.W.3d at 920; Douglas v. State, 900 S.W.2d 760, 762 (Tex. App.—Corpus Christi 1995, pet. ref'd).
We ABATE the appeal and REMAND the case to the trial court and order the judge of the 156th District Court of Bee County to conduct a hearing in accordance with Texas Code of Criminal Procedure article 38.22, section 6, to determine the voluntariness of any statement or confession made by Longoria, which was introduced into evidence at trial. The trial court shall conduct a hearing within thirty days of the issuance of this order, or it shall inform this Court within thirty days of the issuance of this order of the hearing date. See TEX. CODE CRIM. PROC. ANN. art. 38.22, § 6; Douglas, 900 S.W.2d at 762. It is further ordered that the judge of the 156th District Court thereafter shall: (1) prepare written findings of fact and conclusions of law in compliance with article 38.22, section 6 of the code of criminal procedure; (2) cause them to be included in a supplemental clerk's record; (3) cause the hearing to be transcribed and included in a supplemental reporter's record; and (4) forward the supplemental records to the Clerk of this Court within twenty days of the hearing. See TEX. CODE CRIM. PROC. ANN. art. 38.22, § 6.
We withdraw the submission date of January 5, 2016. Upon receipt of the supplemental record, we will resubmit this cause for further consideration by the Court upon the original briefs filed by the parties, unless prior permission for supplementation of the same is requested and granted.
IT IS SO ORDERED.
PER CURIAM Do not publish.
TEX. R. APP. P. 47.2(b). Delivered and filed the 10th day of February, 2016.