Court of Appeals of the State of Georgia
ATLANTA,____________________ August 04, 2021
The Court of Appeals hereby passes the following order: A21A1797. HARVEY COUCH v. THE STATE.
In 1989, Harvey Couch pled guilty to two counts of theft by taking and five counts of entering an automobile with intent to commit theft. In December 2020, Couch filed an “Omnibus Motion to Vacate Void Plea and Void Sentence.” The trial court issued an order denying this motion on March 10, 2021. On May 26, 2021, Harvey filed a notice of appeal of the trial court’s order. Pretermitting whether the trial court’s order is directly appealable, we lack jurisdiction because this appeal is untimely. A notice of appeal must be filed within 30 days after the entry of the trial court’s order. OCGA § 5-6-38 (a). “The proper and timely filing of the notice of appeal is an absolute requirement to confer jurisdiction upon the appellate court.” Rowland v. State, 264 Ga. 872, 872 (1) (452 SE2d 756) (1995) (emphasis in original). Here, Couch filed his notice of appeal 77 days after the trial court’s order was entered.1
1 Couch claims that he filed a timely notice of appeal which was rejected by the trial court clerk because it contained multiple case numbers. This claim is unavailing, as the record contains nothing to support it, see Bank of Coweta v. Lee, 153 Ga. App. 33, 33-34 (264 SE2d 526) (1980), and the “proper and timely” filing of the notice of appeal is an absolute requirement to confer jurisdiction upon this Court. See Rowland, 264 Ga. at 872 (1).
Accordingly, we lack jurisdiction to consider this appeal, which is hereby DISMISSED.
Court of Appeals of the State of Georgia Clerk’s Office, Atlanta,____________________ 08/04/2021 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.