Rokei J. Winston v. State

• Court: Court of Appeals of Georgia
• Decided: May 20, 2015
• Docket: A15A1540
• Status: Published

Opinion

Court of Appeals of the State of Georgia

ATLANTA,____________________ May 18, 2015

The Court of Appeals hereby passes the following order:

A15A1540. ROKEI J. WINSTON v. THE STATE.

Rokei Winston pled guilty to several offenses on August 18, 2009. Winston filed a motion for out-of-time appeal in September of 2014, which the trial court denied on January 28, 2015. On March 2, 2015, Winston filed a pro se notice of appeal from the trial court’s order. However, we lack jurisdiction. Although a criminal defendant may directly appeal from a trial court order denying his request for an out-of-time appeal, a notice of appeal must be filed within 30 days after entry of an appealable order. 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. See Rowland v. State, 264 Ga. 872 (1) (452 SE2d 756) (1995). Because Winston filed his notice of appeal 33 days after the order he seeks to appeal, his appeal is untimely. Accordingly, we lack jurisdiction to entertain this appeal, which is hereby DISMISSED. Court of Appeals of the State of Georgia 05/18/2015 Clerk’s Office, Atlanta,____________________ 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.