State v. Christopher Tumlinson ( 2020 )

NUMBER 13-19-00603-CR
COURT OF APPEALS
THIRTEENTH DISTRICT OF TEXAS
CORPUS CHRISTI - EDINBURG
THE STATE OF TEXAS, Appellant,
v.
CHRISTOPHER TUMLINSON, Appellee.
On appeal from the 28th District Court
of Nueces County, Texas.
ORDER
Before Chief Justice Contreras and Justices Longoria and Perkes
Order Per Curiam
The State perfected an appeal from an order granting a motion to suppress entered
by the 28th District Court of Nueces County, Texas, in cause number 19FC-2529-A. The
State filed a motion to abate and remand to the trial court for findings of fact and
conclusions of law.
On November 5, 2019, the trial court issued an order granting a motion to
suppress. On November 22, 2019, the State filed a timely request for findings of fact and
conclusions of law. The trial court has not made its findings of fact and conclusions of law
in support of its decision to grant the appellee’s motion to suppress.
Upon the request of the losing party on a motion to suppress evidence, the trial
court must make findings of fact and conclusions of law adequate to provide an appellate
court with a basis upon which to review the trial court’s application of the law to the facts.
State v. Cullen, 195 S.W.3d 696, 699 (Tex. Crim. App. 2006). If the trial court does not
enter the findings of fact and conclusions of law within twenty days from its ruling on the
motion to suppress, the intermediate appellate court must exercise its authority under
Texas Rule of Appellate Procedure 44.4, and remand the case to the trial court and order
the trial court to enter findings of fact and conclusions of law. TEX. R. APP. PROC. 44.4;
Cullen, 195 S.W.3d at 698-700.
The Court, having considered the documents on file and the State’s motion, is of
the opinion that the motion should be granted. Accordingly, we GRANT counsel’s motion
to abate the present appeal. See TEX. R. APP. P. 44.4. Accordingly, this appeal is
ABATED, and the cause REMANDED to the trial court.
Upon remand, the trial court is instructed to make and file findings of fact and
conclusions of law consistent with the holding in Cullen. A supplemental record
containing these findings of fact and conclusions of law should be included in a
supplemental clerk's record which should be submitted to the Clerk of this Court within
thirty days from the date of this order.
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It is so ORDERED.
PER CURIAM
Do not publish.
TEX. R. APP. P. 47.2(b).
Order delivered and filed
this the 29th day of January, 2020.
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