NUMBERS 13-13-00358-CR
COURT OF APPEALS
THIRTEENTH DISTRICT OF TEXAS
CORPUS CHRISTI - EDINBURG
THE STATE OF TEXAS, Appellant,
v.
BONNIE DOWNS, Appellee.
On appeal from the County Court at Law No. 4
of Nueces County, Texas.
ORDER
Before Justices Garza, Benavides, and Perkes
Order Per Curiam
The State perfected an appeal from an order granting a motion to suppress entered
by the County Court at Law Number 4 of Nueces County, Texas, in cause number
13CR714-4. The State requested a remand to the trial court for findings of fact and
conclusions of law. By order issued on May 8, 2014, this Court granted the State’s
motion and abated and remanded this appeal to the trial court for findings of fact and
conclusions of law. On May 30, 2014, this Court received the supplemental clerk’s
record containing the trial court’s findings and conclusions. On August 8, 2014, the State
filed an objection to the trial court’s findings and conclusions and requested that this Court
again abate and remand this case to the trial court for additional findings. According to
the State’s motion, the sole ground for the motion to suppress was that the State had “no
reasonable suspicion and no probable cause” to initiate a traffic stop regarding the
appellee, Bonnie Downs. The State contends that the trial court’s findings and
conclusions fail to address facts necessary to determine reasonable suspicion and
probable cause “but instead make merely conclusory assertions regarding a supposed
violation of Miranda.” See Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U.S.436 (1966).
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 to 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. P. 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 as stated herein. Accordingly, we GRANT
the State’s motion to abate this appeal and REMAND this matter to the trial court for
additional findings and conclusions which should address the issues of probable cause
and reasonable suspicion insofar as necessary to provide this Court with a basis to review
the application of the law to the facts of this case. See TEX. R. APP. P. 44.4. Specifically,
the trial court is instructed to make and file findings of fact and conclusions of law in
accordance with the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals’ directive in Cullen. See Cullen,
195 S.W.3d at 699. A supplemental clerk’s record containing these findings of fact and
conclusions of law should be filed with the Clerk of this Court within twenty days from the
date of this order.
It is so ORDERED.
PER CURIAM
Do not publish.
TEX. R. APP. P. 47.2(b).
Delivered and filed the
16th day of September, 2014.
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