Order entered December 30, 2020
In The
Court of Appeals
Fifth District of Texas at Dallas
No. 05-20-00590-CR
No. 05-20-00591-CR
DAMON EVANS, Appellant
V.
THE STATE OF TEXAS, Appellee
On Appeal from the Criminal District Court No. 2
Dallas County, Texas
Trial Court Cause Nos. F20-51047-I & F20-51046-I
ORDER
On May 19, 2020, appellant entered a guilty plea in each of the above
appeals. The State introduced his judicial confession and stipulation of evidence in
support of each guilty plea as State’s Exhibit 1, and the reporter’s record states
these documents were admitted but retained in the court’s file. On October 28,
2020, we granted appellant’s request for a supplemental clerk’s record with
appellant’s judicial confessions. On December 21, 2020, a supplemental clerk’s
record was filed in each case containing appellant’s plea bargain agreements, but
not the judicial confessions and stipulations of evidence.
We ORDER the trial court to hold a hearing to determine the status of
State’s Exhibit 1 (appellant’s judicial confession and stipulation of evidence in
each case). Specifically, the trial court shall determine:
• Whether State’s Exhibit 1 has been lost or destroyed;
• If State’s Exhibit 1 has been lost or destroyed, whether the parties can
agree on copies that accurately duplicate with reasonable certainty the
original judicial confessions and stipulations of evidence.
If the parties cannot agree on a copy, the trial court must then determine
what constitutes an accurate copy of appellant’s judicial confessions and
stipulations of evidence and order that each be included in a supplemental clerk’s
record in each case. TEX. R. APP. P. 34.5(e).
We ORDER the trial court to transmit a record containing its written
findings of fact, any orders, and any supporting documentation to this Court within
THIRTY DAYS of the date of this order.
We DIRECT the Clerk to send copies of this order to the Honorable Nancy
Kennedy, Presiding Judge, Criminal District Court No. 2; Dallas County District
Clerk Felicia Pitre; Official Court Reporter Mary Snider, Criminal District Court
No. 2; and counsel for the parties.
We ABATE the appeals to allow the trial court to comply with this
order. The appeals shall be reinstated when the findings or supplemental clerk’s
records are received or at such other time as the Court deems appropriate.
/s/ BILL PEDERSEN, III
JUSTICE