Opinion
No. 14-04-00095-CR.
Opinion filed March 4, 2004. DO NOT PUBLISH. Tex.R.App.P. 47.2(b).
On Appeal from the 182nd District Court, Harris County, Texas, Trial Court Cause No. 711,264. Dismissed.
Panel consists of Chief Justice HEDGES and Justices FROST and GUZMAN.
MEMORANDUM OPINION
The trial court signed a judgment adjudicating appellant's guilt for possession of more than four, but less than 200, grams of cocaine and sentencing appellant to confinement for thirty years in the Institutional Division of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice on June 29, 1998. Appellant's pro se notice of appeal was not filed until January 26, 2004. The record before this court contains no indication that appellant was granted an out-of-time appeal by the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals. 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. 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, and it can take no action other than to dismiss the appeal. Id. Accordingly, the appeal is ordered dismissed.