NUMBER 13-17-00119-CR

COURT OF APPEALS

THIRTEENTH DISTRICT OF TEXAS

CORPUS CHRISTI - EDINBURG

LEONARDO VASQUEZ, Appellant,

v.

STATE OF TEXAS, Appellee.

On appeal from the 138th District Court 

of Cameron County, Texas.

ORDER ABATING APPEAL

Before Chief Justice Valdez and Justices Benavides and Longoria

Order Per Curiam

Appellant Leonardo Vasquez appeals his conviction for aggravated kidnapping. 

See TEX. PENAL CODE ANN. § 20.04(b) (West, Westlaw through 2017 1st C.S.). We 
2

ABATE the case and REMAND it to the trial court for further proceedings consistent with 

this order.

On February 23, 2017, appellant filed with the trial court a request for preparation 

of the reporter’s record. See TEX. R. APP. P. 34.6(a) & (b) (requiring the reporter’s record 

to include “any of the exhibits that the parties to the appeal designate” by written request 

timely filed with the trial court clerk). In his request, appellant asked that “[a]ll exhibits 

offered or introduced into evidence” be prepared for inclusion in the reporter’s record. On 

June 23, 2017, the official court reporter filed with this Court a 3-volume reporter’s record

without including an Exhibit Volume. The court reporter advised that 

the [r]eporter’s [r]ecord [v]olume 2 indicates that State’s Exhibits 1-6 were 

offered by the Prosecutor and admitted by the Court. In reading the Record, 

the Prosecutor does not specify in detail what each exhibit consisted of. I 

have done due diligence in looking for these exhibits in the trial court files 

and there are no exhibits that exist. There are not any documents with 

Exhibit stickers or handwritten notes specifying an exhibit. Therefore, this 

[r]eporter’s [r]ecord will not contain a volume for Exhibits. 

The appellate record in this case is incomplete in that it is missing trial exhibits. 

Accordingly, the appeal is ABATED and REMANDED to the trial court. In accordance 

with Rule 34.6(f)(4) of the Texas Rules of Appellate Procedure, the trial court is directed 

to conduct a hearing to determine: (1) if appellant has timely requested a reporter’s 

record, including a proper designation of exhibits; (2) if, without appellant’s fault, 

significant exhibits have been lost or destroyed; (3) if the lost and destroyed exhibits are 

necessary to the appeal’s resolution;1 and (4) if the lost or destroyed exhibits cannot be 

 1 On appeal, appellant argues, among other things, that the trial court erred by failing to approve in 

writing his consent to stipulate to evidence, as required by article 1.15 of the Texas Code of Criminal 

Procedure. See TEX. CODE CRIM. PROC. ANN. § 1.15 (West, Westlaw through 2017 1st C.S.) (providing that 
3

replaced either by agreement of the parties or with copies determined by the trial court to 

accurately duplicate with reasonable certainty the original exhibits. See TEX. R. APP. P. 

34.6(f).

The trial court is directed to forward the record of the proceedings, including any 

orders and findings, to this Court within thirty (30) days of the date of this order, or to 

notify this Court within such period indicating a date by which the trial court can comply. 

The case is ABATED and REMANDED to the trial court for further proceedings consistent 

with this order. The case will be reinstated upon further order of this Court.

PER CURIAM

Do not publish.

TEX. R. APP. P. 47.2(b).

Delivered and filed the

8th day of March, 2018. 

 there must be sufficient evidence to support a defendant’s conviction, which may be accomplished through 

a stipulation to evidence, consented to by a defendant and “approved by the court in writing”) (emphasis 

added); see also McClain v. State, 730 S.W.2d 739 (Tex. Crim. App. 1987) (concluding that evidence 

stipulated to by defendant could not be considered in determining whether there was sufficient evidence to 

support defendant’s conviction, as required by article 1.15, where the defendant’s consent to stipulate was 

not signed by the trial judge and where no other evidence was presented to substantiate guilt); Ybarra v. 

State, 93 S.W.3d 922, 927 (Tex. App.—Corpus Christi 2002, no pet.) (concluding that article 1.15 error 

stemming from the trial judge’s failure to sign defendant’s consent to stipulate was harmless where, 

independent of any stipulated evidence, the defendant’s signed judicial confession was admitted into 

evidence at the plea hearing).