Opinion
A22A0810
02-07-2022
EDWARD BARBER v. LAWRENCE WHITTINGTON et al.
The Court of Appeals hereby passes the following order
On December 22, 2021, we granted prisoner Edward Barber's pro se application for discretionary appeal. See Case No. A22D0170. In our order, we directed Barber to file his notice of appeal within ten days. On January 6, 2022, the notice of appeal was filed in superior court.
OCGA § 5-6-35 (g) imposes a mandatory obligation on an appellant to file a notice of appeal within ten days of the granting of a discretionary appeal. We note that Barber's notice of appeal is dated December 29, 2021. But this notice was not entered by the trial court until eight days later on January 6, 2022. The latter date is the filing date. See Wal- Mart Stores v. Curry, 206 Ga.App. 775, 776 (426 S.E.2d 581) (1992) ("The entry of filing by the clerk is the best evidence of the date of filing and is presumed to be correct until the contrary is shown."). While we are sympathetic to Barber's dependence upon prison officials to handle legal mail promptly, "the proper and timely filing of a notice of appeal is an absolute requirement to confer jurisdiction upon the appellate court." Davis v. State, 330 Ga.App. 711, 711 (769 S.E.2d 133) (2015) (punctuation omitted; emphasis in original).
Accordingly, we lack jurisdiction to consider this appeal, which is hereby DISMISSED.