Court of Appeals of the State of Georgia September 15, 2014 ATLANTA,__________________ The Court of Appeals hereby passes the following order: A14A2169. ERIK FERGUSON v. THE STATE.

Erik Ferguson was convicted of 16 offenses, including trafficking of persons for sexual servitude. Ferguson filed a motion for new trial, which the trial court denied on March 17, 2014. Ferguson filed his notice of appeal on April 17, 2014. We lack jurisdiction.

To be timely, a notice of appeal must be filed within 30 days after entry of the appealable order. See OCGA § 5-6-38 (a). The proper and timely filing of a notice of appeal is an absolute requirement to confer jurisdiction on this Court. See Rowland v. State, 264 Ga. 872 (1) (452 SE2d 756) (1995). Because Ferguson filed his notice of appeal 31 days after entry of the trial court’s order, his appeal is untimely.

Accordingly, the state’s motion to dismiss is hereby GRANTED, as we lack jurisdiction to entertain this appeal.

Because Ferguson is represented by counsel, he is informed of the following in accordance with Rowland v. State, 264 Ga. 872 (452 SE2d 756) (1995): This appeal has been dismissed because of your counsel’s failure to file a timely notice of appeal.

If you still wish to appeal, you may request the trial court to grant an out-of-time appeal. If the trial court grants an out-of-time appeal, you will have 30 days from that grant in which to instigate an appeal. If the trial court denies your request for an out- of-time appeal, you may appeal that denial by filing a notice of appeal within 30 days of the denial. If you no longer wish to appeal your conviction, you need not do anything else.

The Clerk of Court is directed to send a copy of this order to Ferguson as well as to Ferguson’s attorney, who is also directed to send a copy to Ferguson.

Court of Appeals of the State of Georgia 09/15/2014 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.