NUMBER 13-16-00231-CR
COURT OF APPEALS
THIRTEENTH DISTRICT OF TEXAS
CORPUS CHRISTI - EDINBURG
____________________________________________________________
THE STATE OF TEXAS, Appellant,
v.
ANTHONY CHRISTIAN CASAS, Appellee.
____________________________________________________________
On appeal from the County Court at Law No. 2
of Victoria County, Texas.
____________________________________________________________
Order of Abatement
Before Justices Benavides, Perkes, and Longoria
Order Per Curiam
This case is presently before the Court on the State’s motion to abate for
supplemental findings of fact. For the reasons set forth below, we GRANT the motion
and ABATE the case.
1
A. Applicable Law
Upon the timely request of the losing party in a motion to suppress, the trial court
is required to “state its essential findings.” State v. Elias, 339 S.W.3d 667, 674 (Tex.
Crim. App. 2011). “Essential findings” mean “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.” Id. (citing State v. Cullen, 195 S.W.3d 696, 699 (Tex.
Crim. App. 2006)). We must abate for supplemental findings when the party has
requested findings of fact, and the findings that are made by the trial court “are so
incomplete that an appellate court is unable to make a legal determination.” State v.
Saenz, 411 S.W.3d 488, 495 (Tex. Crim. App. 2013).
B. Discussion
This case arises from a traffic stop which ended with Casas’ arrest for driving while
intoxicated. After the trial court granted Casas’ motion to suppress, the State made a
timely request for findings of fact and conclusions of law. The trial court entered findings
and conclusions, but the State argues that the findings did not address several potentially
case-dispositive matters regarding the testimony of Corporal Slovacek, the arresting
officer. The State now seeks supplemental findings regarding whether:
1. The trial court believed that Corporal Slovacek’s testimony that Casas’ vehicle
drove onto the improved shoulder was a lie or that she was mistaken.
2. The trial court credited Corporal Slovacek’s testimony that Casas was driving
49 miles per hour on a road with a 65 miles-per-hour speed limit.
3. If the trial court did not credit Corporal Slovacek’s testimony regarding Casas’
speed, whether the court believed that Corporal Slovacek was lying or was
mistaken about Casas’ speed.
2
4. Whether the trial court credited Corporal Slovacek’s testimony that there are
commonly intoxicated drivers on the area of highway where Casas was
stopped, U.S. Highway 87 in the area north of Victoria.
5. If the trial court did not credit Corporal Slovacek’s testimony, whether it believed
that Corporal Slovacek was lying or was mistaken in her belief that intoxicated
drivers were common in that area of the highway.
The State argues that we would be unable to determine whether reasonable
suspicion existed without findings on these matters. We agree that these matters are
potentially dispositive of the case. 1 We remand this case to the trial court to enter
supplemental findings of fact addressing these questions. The supplemental findings
should be included in a supplemental clerk’s record filed with this Court within thirty days
of the date of this order. We respectfully request the trial court to notify this Court before
the expiration of that period if it needs more time.
It is so ORDERED
PER CURIAM
Delivered and filed the
13th day of May, 2016.
1 We stress that we express no opinion on the actual significance of these facts, if any, to the
disposition of the State’s appeal.
3