Justin Amador, Appellant v. the State of Texas

Summary

The Court of Criminal Appeals held that a reviewing court cannot assume or speculate about the contents of exhibits that are not contained in the appellate record, and that the court of appeals therefore erred in presuming that the patrol-car videotape — played in part at the suppression hearing but never admitted and omitted from the record — supported the trial court's denial of Amador's motion to suppress. Because the State properly sought supplementation and Amador properly objected, the trial court must settle, after notice and hearing, the dispute over what portions of the videotape the judge actually viewed and used. The Court sustained the first ground for review, dismissed the second, vacated the court of appeals' judgment, and remanded. Hervey, J., dissenting, joined by Keller, P.J., and Keasler, J., would have held that Amador bore the burden to supplement the record and, having obstructed the State's efforts, was estopped from complaining, and that the probable-cause issue was forfeited.