Opinion
No. 14-06-00021-CR
Memorandum Opinion filed January 26, 2006. DO NOT PUBLISH.
On Appeal from the 338th District Court, Harris County, Texas, Trial Court Cause No. 628,066. Dismissed.
Panel consists of Justices FOWLER, EDELMAN, and GUZMAN.
MEMORANDUM OPINION
Appellant entered a guilty plea to possession of a controlled substance. In accordance with the terms of a plea bargain agreement with the State, the trial court sentenced appellant on November 23, 1992, to confinement for fifteen years in the Institutional Division of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice. No timely motion for new trial was filed. Appellant's pro se notice of appeal was not filed until December 21, 2005. 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.