Damien C. Bernard v. State

• Court: Court of Appeals of Georgia
• Decided: August 26, 2019
• Docket: A20A0047
• Status: Published

Opinion

Court of Appeals of the State of Georgia

ATLANTA,____________________ August 26, 2019

The Court of Appeals hereby passes the following order:

A20A0047. DAMIEN C. BERNARD v. THE STATE.

In 2005, Damien C. Bernard was found guilty of armed robbery and sentenced to 20 years’ imprisonment. This Court affirmed his conviction on direct appeal in an unpublished decision. Case No. A06A2264 (Nov. 28, 2006). Since then, Bernard has filed numerous appeals. See Case No. A16A0022 (dismissed Oct. 20, 2015). In 2017, Bernard filed a “motion in nature of coram nobis and audita querela . . . ,” in which he sought to set aside his conviction. The trial court denied this motion on January 8, 2018, and Bernard filed the instant appeal of that order on February 12, 2018. We lack jurisdiction. Pretermitting whether Bernard has a right of direct appeal, his appeal is untimely. To be timely, a notice of appeal must be filed within 30 days of entry of the order on appeal. See 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. Rowland v. State, 264 Ga. 872, 872 (1) (452 SE2d 756) (1995). Because Bernard filed his notice of appeal 35 days after entry of the order he seeks to appeal, it is untimely. Accordingly, this appeal is hereby DISMISSED for lack of jurisdiction.1

Court of Appeals of the State of Georgia Clerk’s Office, Atlanta,____________________ 08/26/2019 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, Bernard claims that he did not receive timely notice of the trial court’s order because of issues with his prison’s mailroom. However, any such issues would not extend the time for filing the notice of appeal. See Atlantic- Canadian Corp. v. Hammer, Siler, George Assoc., 167 Ga. App. 257, 257-258 (1) (306 SE2d 22) (1983).