State v. John Chad Kolander

In The Court of Appeals Ninth District of Texas at Beaumont ____________________ NO. 09-16-00294-CR NO. 09-16-00295-CR ____________________ THE STATE OF TEXAS, Appellant V. JOHN CHAD KOLANDER, Appellee __________________________________________________________________ On Appeal from the 252nd District Court Jefferson County, Texas Trial Cause Nos. 16-24978, 16-24979 __________________________________________________________________ ORDER On September 30, 2016, appellee John Chad Kolander filed a motion to supplement the record with (1) “the orders under which District Judge John Stevens was assigned these cases and then recused himself; and (2) the August 19, 2016[,] letter from District Attorney (formerly District Judge) Bob Wortham to the [special] prosecutor, in which Wortham disavows being a victim or complaining witness[.]” Kolander contended that “the orders related to assignment of and 1 recusal by District Judge John Stevens for an unknown reason are held only by Judge Stevens and/or the prosecutor.” Kolander contends that his counsel received the correspondence between Wortham and the special prosecutor from the prosecutor via email, but the correspondence is not in the record. On October 11, 2016, this Court granted Kolander’s motion and ordered a supplemental clerk’s record. On October 25, 2016, the District Clerk’s office sent a letter which certified to this Court that despite a diligent effort to comply with the request to supplement the record, the record does not contain the requested documents. It is, therefore, ORDERED that the appeals are abated and the causes are remanded to the trial court for an evidentiary hearing to settle the issue of whether the requested documents should be included in the record, and to file with the Court of Appeals by December 19, 2016, a reporter’s record of the hearing, as well as a supplemental clerk’s record containing a copy of the trial court’s order and any documents the trial judge determines should be added to the record. All appellate timetables are suspended while the cases are before the trial court. ORDER ENTERED November 15, 2016. PER CURIAM Before McKeithen, C.J., Kreger and Horton, JJ. 2