Darren Ray Gunnels v. the State of Texas

                                   In The
                              Court of Appeals
                     Seventh District of Texas at Amarillo

                                     No. 07-23-00111-CR


                         DARREN RAY GUNNELS, APPELLANT

                                             V.

                           THE STATE OF TEXAS, APPELLEE

                          On Appeal from the 100th District Court
                                   Donley County, Texas
                  Trial Court No. 4184, Honorable Stuart Messer, Presiding

                                    December 27, 2023
                    ORDER OF ABATEMENT AND REMAND
                  Before QUINN, C.J., and DOSS and YARBROUGH, JJ.

      Appellant, Darren Ray Gunnels, appeals his conviction for evading arrest 1 and

sentence to twenty years of confinement. Appellant has filed a brief but alleges, therein,

that the clerk’s record and reporter’s record contain inaccuracies and omissions material

to this appeal. By letter of December 5, 2023, we directed the State to file a response




      1 See TEX. PENAL CODE ANN. § 38.04.
indicating its agreement or disagreement with purported record errors. No response was

filed. We remand the cause to the trial court for further proceedings.


       Rules of Appellate Procedure 34.5(e) and 34.6(e)(3) provide that if a dispute

concerning the accuracy of the clerk’s record or reporter’s record arises, the court may

submit the dispute to the trial court for resolution. The trial court must then settle the

dispute. TEX. R. APP. P. 34.5(e); 34.6(e)(2), (3).


       We now abate the appeal and remand the cause to the trial court to settle whether

any inaccuracies or omissions exist in the clerk’s record or reporter’s record. The trial

court shall conduct a hearing by whatever means necessary and, if it finds any

inaccuracies or omissions, it must order the trial court clerk or court reporter to correct the

record and to file certified corrections in this Court. The trial court shall order any

supplemental clerk’s record and supplemental reporter’s record and any other necessary

findings to be prepared and filed in this Court on or before January 26, 2024. All appellate

deadlines, including the present deadline to file the State’s brief, are suspended until

further order of the Court.


       It is so ordered.


                                                          Per Curiam


Do not publish.




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