State v. Daniel Cabral-Tapia

In The
Court of Appeals
Seventh District of Texas at Amarillo
No. 07-18-00252-CR
THE STATE OF TEXAS, APPELLANT
V.
DANIEL CABRAL-TAPIA, APPELLEE
On Appeal from the County Court
Hale County, Texas
Trial Court No. 2017C-200, Honorable Bill Coleman, Presiding
October 11, 2018
ABATEMENT AND REMAND
Before QUINN, C.J., and CAMPBELL and PARKER, JJ.
Pending before this court is the State’s motion to abate the appeal and remand the
cause to the trial court to prepare findings of fact and conclusions of law. The record
reflects that the trial court granted appellee Daniel Cabral-Tapia’s motion to suppress the
horizontal gaze nystagmus test and that the State timely filed a request for findings of fact
and conclusions of law. However, none were filed. In State v. Cullen, 195 S.W.3d 696,
699 (Tex. Crim. App. 2006), the Court of Criminal Appeals held that, “[u]pon the request
of the losing party on a motion to suppress evidence, the trial court shall state its essential
findings.” There, the Court explained that the trial court’s refusal to state its findings and
conclusions prevented the court of appeals from a meaningful review of the decision to
grant or deny the motion to suppress. Id. at 698.
Accordingly, we abate the appeal and remand the cause to the trial court. See
TEX. R. APP. P. 44.4. Upon remand, the trial court shall execute findings of fact and
conclusions of law as required by State v. Cullen, supra. So too shall it include its findings
and conclusions in a supplemental clerk’s record and cause that record to be filed with
this court. Because we must “give precedence in [our] docket to an appeal filed” by the
State from an order granting a motion to suppress evidence, Tex. Code Crim. Proc. Ann.
art. 44.01(a)(5), (f) (West 2018), we set October 24, 2018, as the deadline by which the
findings and conclusions must be filed with this court. Should further time be needed to
perform these tasks, then same must be requested before October 24, 2018.
It is so ordered.
Per Curiam
Do not publish.
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