Chaney Wayne Allen v. State

Opinion

Court of Appeals of the State of Georgia

ATLANTA,____________________ June 07, 2024

The Court of Appeals hereby passes the following order:

A24A1472. CHANEY WAYNE ALLEN v. THE STATE.

On April 16, 2024, Chaney Wayne Allen filed a pro se notice of appeal, seeking review of the trial court’s March 15, 2024 order denying his motion to correct void sentence. We lack jurisdiction because the appeal is untimely.

To be timely, a notice of appeal must be filed within 30 days after entry of the order on appeal. OCGA § 5-6-38 (a). The proper and timely filing of a notice of appeal is an absolute requirement to confer jurisdiction on this Court. Davis v. State, 330 Ga. App. 711, 711 (769 SE2d 133) (2015). Allen’s notice of appeal was filed 32 days after entry of the order on appeal. The notice is dated April 13, 2024—before the expiration of the 30-day appeal period—but was not stamped “filed” by the trial court clerk until April 16. We recognize that, as a pro se prisoner, Allen depends upon correctional personnel to dispatch his mail.

Nevertheless, even if he acted promptly after receiving the trial court’s order,1 “his filing did not get to the superior court in time. So we have no jurisdiction over his appeal.” Ebeling v. State, 355 Ga. App. 469, 470 (844 SE2d 518) (2020).

Accordingly, this appeal is hereby DISMISSED.

Court of Appeals of the State of Georgia Clerk’s Office, Atlanta,____________________ 06/07/2024

I certify that the above is a true extract from the minutes of the Court of Appeals of Georgia.

Witness my signature and the seal of said court hereto affixed the day and year last above written.

, Clerk.

1 In his notice of appeal, Allen claims that he did not receive the trial court’s order until April 10.