Dismissed and Opinion filed May 30, 2002.
In The
Fourteenth Court of Appeals
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NO. 14-02-00409-CR
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BOBBY LEE HARRIS, Appellant
V.
THE STATE OF TEXAS, Appellee
On Appeal from the 263rd District Court
Harris County, Texas
Trial Court Cause No. 863,753
M E M O R A N D U M O P I N I O N
After a guilty plea, appellant was convicted of the offense of aggravated sexual assault of a child and sentenced to confinement for twenty years in the Institutional Division of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice on November 14, 2001. No motion for new trial was filed. Appellant=s notice of appeal was not filed until February 4, 2002.
A defendant=s notice of appeal must be filed within thirty days after sentence is imposed when the defendant has not filed a motion for new trial. See Tex. R. App. P. 26.2(a)(1). A notice of appeal which complies with the requirements of Rule 26 is essential to vest the court of appeals with jurisdiction. See Slaton v. State, 981 S.W.2d 208, 210 (Tex. Crim. App. 1998). If an appeal is not timely perfected, a court of appeals does not obtain jurisdiction to address the merits of the appeal. Under those circumstances it can take no action other than to dismiss the appeal. See id.
Accordingly, we dismiss the appeal for want of jurisdiction.
PER CURIAM
Judgment rendered and Opinion filed May 30, 2002.
Panel consists of Chief Justice Brister and Justices Anderson and Frost.
Do Not Publish ‑ Tex. R. App. P. 47.3(b).