Yarnell D. Donald v. State

• Court: Court of Appeals of Georgia
• Decided: October 10, 2014
• Docket: A15A0250
• Status: Published

Opinion

Court of Appeals of the State of Georgia

ATLANTA,____________________ October 10, 2014

The Court of Appeals hereby passes the following order:

A15A0250. YARNELL D. DONALD v. THE STATE.

On December 9, 2011, Yarnell D. Donald was convicted of numerous offenses, including rape and child molestation. He filed a notice of appeal from this ruling on September 11, 2014. We lack jurisdiction. To be timely, a notice of appeal must be filed within 30 days after entry of the 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 Donald filed his notice of appeal almost 3 years after entry of the order he seeks to appeal, his appeal is untimely. We thus lack jurisdiction to entertain this appeal, which is hereby DISMISSED.1

1 In 2014, Donald filed a motion that, in substance, sought to set aside an allegedly void conviction. The trial court denied this motion on August 29, 2014. Donald does not seek to appeal this order. In any event, the Supreme Court has made clear that a post-conviction motion seeking to vacate an allegedly void criminal conviction is not one of the established procedures for challenging the validity of a judgment in a criminal case, and an appeal from the trial court’s ruling on such a petition should be dismissed. See Roberts v. State, 286 Ga. 532 (690 SE2d 150) (2010); Harper v. State, 286 Ga. 216, 218 (1) (686 SE2d 786) (2009). Thus, Donald has no right to appeal the August 29, 2014 order. Court of Appeals of the State of Georgia 10/10/2014 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.