Nick Blankenship v. State

• Court: Court of Appeals of Georgia
• Decided: December 29, 2023
• Docket: A24D0174
• Status: Published

Opinion

Court of Appeals of the State of Georgia

ATLANTA,____________________ December 29, 2023

The Court of Appeals hereby passes the following order:

A24D0174. NICK BLANKENSHIP v. THE STATE.

In 2020, a Henry County jury found Nick Blankenship guilty of aggravated assault, and the trial court imposed a sentence of seven years in prison, to be followed by eight years on probation. In November 2023, Blankenship filed, in this Court, a pro se “Application for [a] Certificate of Probable Cause,” which we construed as an application for discretionary review. In his application, Blankenship asserts that he seeks to appeal an unidentified “judgment and order of the Henry County Superior Court.” The only trial court order Blankenship has provided with his application materials is his February 5, 2020 judgment of conviction. To the extent that Blankenship seeks to appeal that order, his application is untimely, as it was filed more than three years late, pretermitting whether it otherwise would be directly appealable on the procedural posture of this case. See OCGA § 5-6-35 (d) (an application for discretionary review must be filed within 30 days of entry of the judgment or trial court order sought to be appealed); Boyle v. State, 190 Ga. App. 734, 734 (380 SE2d 57) (1989) (the requirements of OCGA § 5-6-35 are jurisdictional, and this Court cannot accept an application for appeal not made in compliance therewith). With his application materials, Blankenship also has submitted: (i) a counseled brief in support of his motion for a new trial dated September 1, 2023; and (ii) a pro se “Memorandum of Law; And Brief In Support of A Substantive Remedy” dated October 27, 2023. Neither document contains a file stamp indicating that it has been filed in the trial court. To the extent that Blankenship seeks to appeal trial court rulings addressing either filing, he has not submitted trial court orders disposing of them, in violation of OCGA § 5-6-35 (c) and Court of Appeals Rule 31 (c). Without copies of those orders, there is nothing for this Court to review with respect to the September 1 and October 27 filings. For the above reasons, this application is hereby DISMISSED for lack of jurisdiction.

Court of Appeals of the State of Georgia C l e r k ’ s O f f i c e , Atlanta,____________________ 12/29/2023 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.