Nick Blankenship v. State ( 2023 )

Court of Appeals
of the State of Georgia
ATLANTA,____________________
December 29, 2023
The Court of Appeals hereby passes the following order:
A24D0174. NICK BLANKENSHIP v. THE STATE.
In 2020, a Henry County jury found Nick Blankenship guilty of aggravated
assault, and the trial court imposed a sentence of seven years in prison, to be followed
by eight years on probation. In November 2023, Blankenship filed, in this Court, a pro
se “Application for [a] Certificate of Probable Cause,” which we construed as an
application for discretionary review. In his application, Blankenship asserts that he
seeks to appeal an unidentified “judgment and order of the Henry County Superior
Court.”
The only trial court order Blankenship has provided with his application
materials is his February 5, 2020 judgment of conviction. To the extent that
Blankenship seeks to appeal that order, his application is untimely, as it was filed more
than three years late, pretermitting whether it otherwise would be directly appealable
on the procedural posture of this case. See OCGA § 5-6-35 (d) (an application for
discretionary review must be filed within 30 days of entry of the judgment or trial
court order sought to be appealed); Boyle v. State, 190 Ga. App. 734, 734 (380 SE2d
57) (1989) (the requirements of OCGA § 5-6-35 are jurisdictional, and this Court
cannot accept an application for appeal not made in compliance therewith).
With his application materials, Blankenship also has submitted: (i) a counseled
brief in support of his motion for a new trial dated September 1, 2023; and (ii) a pro
se “Memorandum of Law; And Brief In Support of A Substantive Remedy” dated
October 27, 2023. Neither document contains a file stamp indicating that it has been
filed in the trial court. To the extent that Blankenship seeks to appeal trial court
rulings addressing either filing, he has not submitted trial court orders disposing of
them, in violation of OCGA § 5-6-35 (c) and Court of Appeals Rule 31 (c). Without
copies of those orders, there is nothing for this Court to review with respect to the
September 1 and October 27 filings.
For the above reasons, this application is hereby DISMISSED for lack of
jurisdiction.
Court of Appeals of the State of Georgia
C l e r k ’ s O f f i c e ,
Atlanta,____________________
12/29/2023
I certify that the above is a true extract from
the minutes of the Court of Appeals of Georgia.
Witness my signature and the seal of said court
hereto affixed the day and year last above written.
, Clerk.