Summaries of Civil Opinions and Published Criminal Opinions Issued - Week of August 18, 2014

NOTE: Summaries are prepared by the court's staff attorneys and law clerks for public information only and reflect his or her interpretation alone of the facts and legal issues. The summaries are not part of the court's opinion in the case and should not be cited to, quoted, or relied upon as the opinion of the court.

Links to full text of opinions (PDF version) can be accessed by clicking the cause number.

In re Fort Worth Star-Telegram, No. 02-14-00144-CV (orig. proceeding) (Aug. 12, 2014) (orig. proceeding) (Walker, J., joined by Meier and Gabriel, JJ.).

Held:  Respondent abused her discretion by issuing the January 10, 2014 and January 22, 2014 courtroom closure orders in the absence of evidence in the record–stipulated facts, judicial notice taken of facts or of files, testimony, self-authenticating documents, or some other evidence–supportive of a good-cause finding. Because the transcriptions of juvenile proceedings are not confidential as a matter of law, Respondent also abused her discretion by prohibiting Relators access to the recordings made by the court reporter of the January 10 and January 22 proceedings

Wilson v. State, No. 02-13-00218-CR- Opinion , 02-13-00218-CR- Concurrence (Aug. 14, 2014) (Walker, J., joined by Gabriel, J.; Meier, J., concurs with opinion).

Held:  The record as a whole does not clearly establish that Wilson was in custody until the detectives told Wilson that he was under arrest approximately one hour and forty-three minutes into the interview; thus, we hold that the trial court did not err by not suppressing the videotape prior to this point.

Concurrence:  Under Dowthitt and its progeny, Wilson was not legally in custody. The officers in this case, however, appear to have deliberately chosen to delay arresting their only suspect in order to obtain a confession. Such tactics by law enforcement result in nothing more than a rhetorical circumvention of Miranda and its progeny.

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