Hill-Blount v. StateHill-Blount v. State
- Reporters:
- , , ,
- Before:
- Mcfadden, Miller, McMillian
A jury found Corey Hill-Blount guilty of armed robbery and possession of a firearm during the commission of a crime, and the trial court entered his judgment of conviction on July 28, 2008. Thirty-seven days later, on September 3, 2008, Hill-Blount filed a motion for a new trial, which the trial court denied on February 3, 2015. Hill-Blount filed a notice of appeal on February 6, 2015. Because the
1. Years-long delay in transmission of the record.
As an initial matter, we note that Hill-Blount‘s motion for a new trial was denied six years and five months after it was filed. The record contains no explanation for this delay. As discussed in Division 2, infra, Hill-Blount may be entitled to pursue an out-of-time appeal. Resolution of that issue will delay any possible consideration of the merits of this case by this court for approximately another year. We therefore again remind the bench and bar that
this sort of extraordinary post-conviction, pre-appeal delay puts at risk the rights of defendants and crime victims and the validity of convictions obtained after a full trial. It is the duty of all those involved in the criminal justice system, including trial courts and prosecutors as well as defense counsel and defendants, to ensure that the appropriate post-conviction motions are filed, litigated, and decided without unnecessary delay. That duty unfortunately was not fulfilled in this case.
Robinson v. State, 334 Ga. App. 646, 647 (1) (780 SE2d 86) (2015) (punctuation omitted); see also Shank v. State, 290 Ga. 844, 849 (5) (c) (725 SE2d 246) (2012); Morgan v. State, 290 Ga. 788, 788-789, nn. 1, 2 (725 SE2d 255) (2012); Hill v. State, 290 Ga. 493, 493, n. * (722 SE2d 708) (2012); Murphy v. State, 290 Ga. 459, 459, nn. 1, 2 (722 SE2d 51) (2012); Waye v. State, 326 Ga. App. 202, 202-203 (1) (756 SE2d 287) (2014).
2. Appellate jurisdiction.
The proper and timely filing of the notice of appeal is an absolute requirement to confer appellate jurisdiction upon this court. Rowland v. State, 264 Ga. 872, 872 (1) (452 SE2d 756) (1995). A notice of appeal must be filed within 30 days of the entry of an appealable judgment.
3. Notice to appellant of his right to petition for leave to file an out-of-time appeal.
Because Hill-Blount is represented by counsel, he is informed of the following in accordance with Rowland v. State, supra at 875-876: This appeal has been dismissed because you failed to file a timely notice of appeal from your judgment of conviction. If you still wish to appeal, you may petition the trial court for leave to file an out-of-time appeal. If the trial court grants your request, you will have 30 days from the entry of that order to file a notice of appeal referencing your conviction. If the trial court denies your request, you will have 30 days from the entry of that order to file a notice of appeal referencing the denial of your request for an out-of-time appeal.
The Clerk of Court is directed to send a copy of this order to Hill-Blount and to his attorney, and the latter also is directed to send a copy to Hill-Blount.
Appeal dismissed. Miller, P. J., and McMillian, J., concur.