Opinion
No. 14-03-01214-CR.
Opinion filed March 4, 2004. DO NOT PUBLISH. Tex.R.App.P. 47.2(b).
On Appeal from the 183rd District Court Harris County, Texas, Trial Court Cause No. 952,421. Dismissed.
Panel consists of Justices FOWLER, EDELMAN and SEYMORE.
MEMORANDUM OPINION
After a plea of guilty, appellant was convicted of the offense of criminally negligent homicide and sentenced to confinement for twenty-five years in the Institutional Division of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice on August 25, 2003. No timely motion for new trial was filed. Appellant's notice of appeal was not filed until October 7, 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. 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. Id. Accordingly, the appeal is ordered dismissed. All pending motions are denied as moot.
In response to this court's notice of intent to dismiss for want of jurisdiction, appellant provided a copy of a notice of appeal bearing a stamp with a date of September 16, 2003. A Deputy District Clerk in the Harris County District Clerk's office then filed with the Clerk of this court an affidavit stating that the only notice of appeal received by the Harris County District Clerk is filemarked October 7, 2003, all the records of the clerk's office reflect the appeal was filed on October 7, 2003, and the initials on the stamp dated September 16, 2003 are not recognized.