Darion Chris Barker v. State

Court of Appeals of the State of Georgia ATLANTA,____________________ January 29, 2018 The Court of Appeals hereby passes the following order: A18A0924. DARION CHRIS BARKER v. THE STATE. In 1994, the trial court entered its judgment of conviction and sentence after Darion Chris Barker pled guilty to possession of cocaine with intent to distribute and possession of marijuana. In 2013, Barker filed a motion for an out-of-time appeal, which the trial court denied on April 16, 2013. On Friday, May 17, 2013, Barker filed a notice of appeal to this Court. 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). The proper and timely filing of a notice of appeal is an absolute requirement to confer jurisdiction on this Court. Rowland v. State, 264 Ga. 872, 872 (1) (452 SE2d 756) (1995). Barker’s notice of appeal is untimely, as it was filed 31 days after entry of the order denying his motion for an out-of-time appeal. Consequently, this appeal is hereby DISMISSED for lack of jurisdiction.1 Court of Appeals of the State of Georgia Clerk’s Office, Atlanta,____________________ 01/29/2018 I certify that the above is a true extract f rom 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 While it has no bearing on the timeliness of Barker’s appeal, we note the significant delay between the filing of the notice of appeal and the transmission of the case from the trial court to this Court in November 2017, and emphasize the importance of the trial court clerk’s duty to expeditiously prepare and transmit the record to this Court. See OCGA § 5-6-43 (a).