Opinion
No. 14-03-01078-CR.
Opinion filed October 30, 2003. DO NOT PUBLISH. Tex.R.App.P. 47.3(b).
On Appeal from the 253rd District Court, Chambers County, Texas, Trial Court Cause No. 11,416
Panel consists of Chief Justice BRISTER and Justices ANDERSON and SEYMORE.
MEMORANDUM OPINION
After a guilty plea, appellant was convicted of the offense of possession with intent to deliver a controlled substance, namely cocaine, and sentenced to fifteen years confinement in the Texas Department of Criminal Justice — Institutional Division on January 29, 2002. No motion for new trial was filed. Appellant's notice of appeal was not filed until September 18, 2003. 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, the appeal is ordered dismissed.