William Buckland v. State

• Court: Court of Appeals of Georgia
• Decided: October 16, 2025
• Docket: A26A0512
• Status: Published

Opinion

Court of Appeals of the State of Georgia

ATLANTA,____________________ October 16, 2025

The Court of Appeals hereby passes the following order:

A26A0512. WILLIAM BUCKLAND v. THE STATE.

In November 2023, William Buckland pleaded guilty to multiple counts of sexual exploitation of children, for which he was sentenced to a total of 20 years, with 10 years to serve in confinement and the remainder on probation. He then filed a motion to modify his sentence. The trial court denied the motion on August 28, 2024. Buckland filed a motion for reconsideration, which the trial court denied on December 20, 2024. On July 9, 2025, Buckland filed a notice of appeal without indicating the specific order he sought to appeal. Pretermitting whether either the August 28 order or the December 20 order is directly appealable, Buckland’s notice of appeal is untimely. A notice of appeal must be filed within 30 days of entry of the order to be appealed, OCGA § 5-6-38 (a), and the proper and timely filing of a notice of appeal is an absolute requirement to confer jurisdiction on this Court. Redford v. State, 357 Ga. App. 247, 250 (850 SE2d 447) (2020). Here, Buckland’s notice of appeal was filed 315 days after entry of August 28 order and 201 days after the entry of the December 20 order and was therefore untimely as to both orders. Accordingly, this appeal is hereby DISMISSED.

Court of Appeals of the State of Georgia Clerk’s Office, Atlanta,____________________ 10/16/2025 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.