Thurston Waller v. State

• Court: Court of Appeals of Georgia
• Decided: September 19, 2022
• Docket: A23A0311
• Status: Published

Opinion

Court of Appeals of the State of Georgia

ATLANTA,____________________ September 19, 2022

The Court of Appeals hereby passes the following order:

A23A0311. THURSTON WALLER v. THE STATE.

In 2013, Thurston Waller entered a negotiated guilty plea to possession of cocaine with intent to distribute and battery. Years later, he filed a motion for out of time appeal, which the trial court denied on February 9, 2021. Waller filed notices of appeal from this ruling on April 7, 2021 and on May 27, 2021. We lack jurisdiction. A notice of appeal must be filed within 30 days of entry of the order sought to be appealed. OCGA § 5-6-38 (a). “[A] timely-filed notice of appeal is a jurisdictional prerequisite to a valid appeal.” Henderson v. State, 265 Ga. 317 (1) (454 SE2d 458) (1995). Because neither notice of appeal was filed within 30 days of the trial court’s order, we lack jurisdiction to consider this appeal, which is hereby DISMISSED.1

Court of Appeals of the State of Georgia Clerk’s Office, Atlanta,____________________ 09/19/2022 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 We further note that the Georgia Supreme Court recently determined that a motion for out-of-time appeal is not a viable remedy for seeking post-conviction relief. See Rutledge v. State, 313 Ga. 460, 461 (870 SE2d 720) (2022); Cook v. State, 313 Ga. 471, 506 (5) (870 SE2d 758) (2022).