Opinion
No. A15A0092.
01-23-2015
The STATE v. ANDRADE.
Richard Lowery Perryman III, Dist. Atty., Nashville, Rebekah Maddox Ditto, Jennifer R. Smith, Asst. Dist. Attys., for Appellant. John W. Strickland Jr., Lakeland, for Appellee.
Richard Lowery Perryman III, Dist. Atty., Nashville, Rebekah Maddox Ditto, Jennifer R. Smith, Asst. Dist. Attys., for Appellant.
John W. Strickland Jr., Lakeland, for Appellee.
Opinion
MILLER, Judge.
On June 6, 2014, the trial court entered an order granting Aram Andrade's motion to suppress his incriminating statements on the basis that the statements were involuntary. The State filed a notice of appeal of this order on June 23, 2014. However, pursuant to a recent amendment to OCGA § 5–7–1(a)(5)(A), which became effective on July 1, 2013, the State was required to file its notice of appeal within two days of the trial court's ruling. The proper and timely filing of a notice of appeal is an absolute requirement to confer jurisdiction on this Court. See Couch v. United Paperworkers Intl. Union, 224 Ga.App. 721, 482 S.E.2d 704 (1997). Because the State's notice of appeal was untimely filed 17 days after entry of the trial court's order, we lack jurisdiction. Accordingly, this appeal is dismissed.
The two-day requirement does not apply to pretrial orders excluding evidence on the basis that it was illegally seized, nor orders excluding the results of drug or alcohol tests. See OCGA § 5–7–1(a)(4). Here, however, the appeal excludes “other evidence” and, therefore, comes within the ambit of OCGA § 5–7–1(a)(5).
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Appeal dismissed.
ANDREWS, P.J., and BRANCH, J., concur.