Oscar Davila Rodriguez v. the State of Texas ( 2022 )

NUMBER 13-19-00326-CR
COURT OF APPEALS
THIRTEENTH DISTRICT OF TEXAS
CORPUS CHRISTI – EDINBURG
OSCAR DAVILA RODRIGUEZ, Appellant,
v.
THE STATE OF TEXAS, Appellee.
On appeal from the 139th District Court
of Hidalgo County, Texas.
ORDER OF ABATEMENT
Before Chief Justice Contreras and Justices Benavides and Longoria
Order Per Curiam
Appellant Oscar Davila Rodriguez appeals his conviction of murder. See TEX.
PENAL CODE ANN. § 19.02(b)(1). Before trial, appellant filed a motion to suppress his
statement of accused. In his motion, appellant argued, among other things, that any
statements he made to the McAllen Police Department investigators were not made
voluntarily. At the suppression hearing on his motion, appellant raised the issue of the
voluntariness of his statement and objected to its entry into evidence. The appellate
record does not contain the trial court’s written findings of fact and conclusions of law as
to the voluntariness of appellant’s statement of accused.
Article 38.22, § 6 of the Texas Code of Criminal Procedure states in relevant part:
In all cases where a question is raised as to the voluntariness of a statement
of an accused, the court must make an independent finding in the absence
of the jury as to whether the statement was made under voluntary
conditions. If the statement has been found to have been voluntarily made
and held admissible as a matter of law and fact by the court in a hearing in
the absence of the jury, the 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, which order
shall be filed among the papers of the cause.
TEX. CODE CRIM. PROC. ANN. art. 38.22, § 6. The court of criminal appeals has held that
“written findings are required in all cases concerning voluntariness. [Article 38.22, § 6]
has no exceptions.” Vasquez v. State, 411 S.W.3d 918, 920 (Tex. Crim. App. 2013). Thus,
a court of appeals errs by not abating for the requisite findings, even where neither party
requested written findings at any level of the proceedings. See id.Therefore, while neither party requested findings of facts and conclusions of law
on the issue of voluntariness of appellant’s statement of accused, or objected to its
absence, we must abate this case, remand it for preparation of an order stating the trial
court’s conclusions and findings of fact pursuant to Texas Code of Criminal Procedure
Article 38.22, § 6, and direct that the order be filed in this Court in a supplemental clerk’s
record.
Accordingly, we abate the appeal and remand the cause to the trial court for entry
of findings of fact and conclusions of law on the voluntariness of appellant’s statement of
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accused pursuant to article 38.22, § 6 of the Texas Code of Criminal Procedure. The trial
court shall make its findings and conclusions as ordered herein and cause a supplemental
clerk’s record containing the findings and conclusions to be filed with the Clerk of this
Court within thirty (30) days from the date of this order. The appeal will be reinstated upon
receipt of the supplemental clerk’s record and upon further order of this Court.
PER CURIAM
Do not publish.
TEX. R. APP. P. 47.2(b).
Delivered and filed on the
7th day of February, 2022.
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