Adkins v. State

In Adkins v. State 764 S.W.2d 782 (Tex. Crim. App. 1988), the court of appeals initially reversed the defendant's conviction, stating that the trial court erred in failing to suppress evidence seized as a result of an invalid warrant. The Court vacated the judgment and remanded to the court of appeals for it to determine whether exigent circumstances existed to support a warrantless arrest. On remand, the court of appeals determined that no exigent circumstances existed, but nevertheless upheld the arrest on another basis, specifically, that it was a lawful warrantless arrest for an offense committed within view of a peace officer under article 14.01. The validity of the arrest under article 14.01 was neither suggested by this Court nor argued by either of the parties. Nevertheless, we affirmed, holding that it was within the court of appeals' authority to review the warrantless arrest in light of the "offense within view" of a peace officer exception to the warrant requirement found in article 14.01. The first time Adkins was before the Court, the Court reasoned that when a warrant is found to be deficient, "the search should be treated as one proceeding without a warrant and the facts of the case should be reviewed to determine whether the search can be upheld under a warrant exception." On our second review, this Court noted that our instruction on remand "did not specifically limit the Court of Appeals's review to any particular section of Chapter 14 of the Code of Criminal Procedure." The Court stated that when a case is remanded to a lower appellate court, the constitutional and statutory jurisdiction originally granted to the court, is fully restored by the order of the remand. The Court further explained: For this Court to issue an "order of remand" to restrict the court of appeals in renewed exercise of its own jurisdiction, power and authority would seem to be an impossible and unwarranted abridgement of constitutional grant of same to courts of appeals by Article V, 6, Constitution of Texas, as implemented by Articles 4.03, 44.24 and 44.25, V.A.A.C.P.