In The
Court of Appeals
Sixth Appellate District of Texas at Texarkana
Nos. 06-15-00086-CR,
06-15-00087-CR, 06-15-00088-CR,
& 06-15-00089-CR,
SAMUEL MOSES WILLIAMS, Appellant
V.
THE STATE OF TEXAS, Appellee
On Appeal from the 8th District Court
Hopkins County, Texas
Trial Court Nos. 1424392, 1424393, 1424394, & 1424395
Before Morriss, C.J., Moseley and Burgess, JJ.
ORDER
On September 9, 2015, this Court issued an order directing Texas Department of Criminal
Justice prison officials at the Joe F. Gurney Unit to provide one of the unit’s inmates, Samuel
Moses Williams, with the means of listening to five MP4 files that are part of his appellate record
in this matter. Our order, which issued after our clerk spoke with prison officials about this matter,
was sent under a cover letter signed by a deputy clerk from our clerk’s office, was mailed in an
envelope bearing this Court’s address, and was issued “BY THE COURT.”1 In spite of having
received this Court’s order, prison officials informed this Court September 16, 2015, that our order
was “not acceptable” because it did not contain a signature of one of the Justices of this Court. Let
it be known that any order issued “BY THE COURT” constitutes a valid, enforceable order. Such
an order has the same effect as one signed by all three Justices of the Court. Thus, our September 9,
2015, order, in effect, contained the signatures of all three Justices of this Court.
While we understand that the prison officials with whom we have been working are simply
following the policies and procedures of the Joe F. Gurney Unit, we want to make it abundantly
clear to all involved that the order we issued on September 9, 2015, is valid and enforceable and
that the willful failure of officials of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice’s Joe F. Gurney
Unit to obey the dictates of that order subjects them to punishment for contempt of court. We
respectfully suggest that those responsible for the policies and procedures at issue consider revising
them for the future.
1
This is also sometimes called by the Latin term “per curiam.” See BLACK’S LAW DICTIONARY 1201 (9th ed. 2009);
see also TEX. R. APP. P. 47.2(a).
2
That said, we are confident that the response we received concerning our September 9,
2015, order was not a challenge to this Court’s authority, but, instead, an unfortunate
misunderstanding. Consequently, we reissue our September 9, 2015, order in its entirety, with the
following modification: Steven Sperry, the warden of the Joe F. Gurney Unit of the Texas
Department of Criminal Justice and all other officials of that prison unit shall comply with the
dictates of the September 9, 2015, order within ten days of the date of the current order, or by the
close of business on Monday, September 28, 2015.
In the event prison officials fail to timely comply with this order, we will immediately issue
an order requiring Warden Steven Sperry to personally appear in this Court to show cause why he
should not be held in contempt of court and punished accordingly.
IT IS SO ORDERED.
BY THE COURT
Date: September 18, 2015
3