Court of Appeals of the State of Georgia ATLANTA,__________________ September 05, 2013 The Court of Appeals hereby passes the following order: A13A1869. VALDEZ-ESPITIA v. THE STATE.

The above-referenced appeal was docketed with this Court on May 15, 2013, and Appellant’s brief was due to be filed with this Court within 20 days. See Court of Appeals Rule 23 (a) (“Appellant’s brief . . . shall be filed within 20 days after the appeal is docketed.”); see also Court of Appeals Rule 7 (“Breach of any rule of the Court of Appeals . . . subjects the offending party and/or attorney to contempt and may subject the appeal to dismissal . . . .”); Court of Appeals Rule 13 (“The notice of docketing a direct appeal shall include a statement that failure to file the enumeration of errors and appellant’s brief within the time required may result in the dismissal of the appeal.”).

Appellant could have sought an extension of time in which to file his brief. See Court of Appeals Rule 16 (b) (“Extensions of time to file briefs must be requested by motion and shall be subject to the Court’s discretion. . . Failure to request an extension of time to file a brief prior to the date the brief is due may result in the non- consideration of the motion and/or the dismissal of the appeal.”). However, Appellant did not do so and instead filed his brief on June 14, 2013, well beyond the 20-day deadline. The State’s brief urges this Court to dismiss the appeal for Appellant’s failure to comply with this Court’s rules and file within the deadline.

Appellant’s brief provides no explanation for its belated filing, and Appellant did not file a reply brief. Accordingly, because of Appellant’s failure to comply with this Court’s rules, this appeal is DISMISSED.

We also instruct Valdez-Espitia as follows: Your appeal has been DISMISSED because your attorney failed to timely file a brief and enumeration of errors . If you have decided you do not want to appeal, you need not do anything more. However, if you do still want to appeal, you may have the right to an OUT-OF-TIME APPEAL – but YOU MUST TAKE ACTION to exercise that right by moving for an out-of- time appeal in the trial court. If your motion for an out-of-time appeal is granted, the trial court should appoint another attorney for you if you want one and cannot pay for one. If your motion for an out-of-time appeal is denied, you may appeal that denial to this court within thirty (30) days of the trial court’s decision. See Reese v. State, 216 Ga. App. 773, 775 (456 SE2d 271) (1995).

Court of Appeals of the State of Georgia 09/05/2013 Clerk’s Office, Atlanta,__________________ 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.