NUMBER 13-20-00220-CR
COURT OF APPEALS
THIRTEENTH DISTRICT OF TEXAS
CORPUS CHRISTI – EDINBURG
PETER ISIAH UVALLE, Appellant,
v.
THE STATE OF TEXAS, Appellee.
On appeal from the 139th District Court
of Hidalgo County, Texas.
ORDER OF ABATEMENT
Before Justices Longoria, Hinojosa, and Silva
Order Per Curiam
This cause is before the Court on appellant Peter Isiah Uvalle’s unopposed motion
to abate this appeal and remand to the trial court. Appellant contends the appellate record
does not contain written findings of fact and conclusions of law regarding the
voluntariness of appellant’s statement.
Section 6 of Article 38.22 of the Texas Code of Criminal Procedure requires written
findings when the voluntariness of a confession is litigated, and the trial court finds the
confession to be voluntary and admissible. TEX. CODE CRIM. PROC. art 38.22, § 6 (“If the
statement has been found to have been voluntarily made and held admissible as a matter
of law and fact by the court in a hearing in the absence of the jury, the court must enter
an order stating its conclusion as to whether or not the statement was voluntarily made,
along with the specific finding of facts upon which the conclusion was based, which order
shall be filed among the papers of the cause.”). The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals has
held that the statute requires written findings even when they are not requested because
“written findings are required in all cases concerning voluntariness” and “[t]he statute has
no exceptions.” Vasquez v. State, 411 S.W.3d 918, 920 (Tex. Crim. App. 2013).
Accordingly, we grant appellant’s motion to abate, and we remand this cause to
the trial court to make such written findings, in compliance with Article 38.22, on the
voluntariness of appellant’s statement. See TEX. CODE CRIM. PROC. art 38.22, § 6.
Specifically, the trial court should make an order stating its conclusion as to whether or
not the challenged statement was voluntarily made, along with specific finding of facts
upon which the conclusion is based. The trial court shall cause its order, together with its
findings and recommendations to be included in a supplemental clerk’s record.
Furthermore, the trial court shall cause a supplemental reporter’s record of any
proceedings to be prepared. The supplemental clerk’s record and supplemental reporter’s
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record, if any, shall be filed with the Clerk of this Court on or before the expiration thirty
days from the date of this order.
Having reviewed the record before this Court, we note that the State withdrew the
complained of videotaped statement of appellant prior to trial and before a ruling could be
obtained on appellant’s motion to suppress. Accordingly, within ten days of this Court’s
receipt of the supplemental clerk’s record and supplemental reporter’s record, if any, we
order appellant to file a letter brief regarding the necessity or usage on appeal of such
findings of fact and conclusions of law as requested in his motion. Any response from the
State will be due within ten days of receipt of appellant’s letter brief.
PER CURIAM
Do not publish.
TEX. R. APP. P. 47.2(b).
Delivered and filed on the
10th day of March, 2022.
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