Marcus Terell Hollimon v. State

Opinion

Opinion issued July 21, 2011.

In The

Court of Appeals

For The

First District of Texas

____________

NO. 01-11-00283-CR

MARCUS TERELL HOLLIMON, Appellant

V.

THE STATE OF TEXAS, Appellee

On Appeal from the 179th District Court

Harris County, Texas

Trial Court Cause No. 1159085

MEMORANDUM OPINION

              Appellant pleaded guilty to the offense of murder, and the trial court found appellant guilty and sentenced him to 48 years’ confinement in the Institutional Division of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice on August 4, 2010.  The trial court certified that this is not a plea bargain case, and that appellant has the right to appeal.  No motion for new trial was filed.  Appellant did not file his pro se notice of appeal until April 4, 2011.

              A defendant’s notice of appeal must be filed within thirty days after sentence is imposed when the defendant has not filed a motion for new trial.  See Tex. R. App. P. 26.2(a)(1).  A notice of appeal that complies with the requirements of Rule 26 is essential to vest the court of appeals with jurisdiction.  See Slaton v. State, 981 S.W.2d 208, 210 (Tex. Crim. App. 1998).  If an appeal is not timely perfected, a court of appeals does not obtain jurisdiction to address the merits of the appeal.  Because appellant’s notice of appeal is untimely, we have no jurisdiction to take any action in this appeal but to dismiss it.  See id.  To the extent that appellant may wish to complain about his counsel’s failure to file a notice of appeal, or whether he was provided counsel for purposes of pursuing an appeal, his remedy would be an application for writ of habeas corpus to the court of criminal appeals requesting an out of time appeal on the ground of ineffective assistance of counsel.

Accordingly, we dismiss the appeal for want of jurisdiction.  See Tex. R. App. P. 26.2(a), 43.2(f).  We dismiss any pending motions as moot.

PER CURIAM

Panel consists of Justices Jennings, Bland, and Massengale.

Do not publish.   Tex. R. App. P. 47.2(b).