Court of Appeals of the State of Georgia ATLANTA,____________________ February 21, 2024 The Court of Appeals hereby passes the following order: A24A0994. MARQUAVIUS KNOX v. THE STATE.

On April 22, 2022, Marquavius Knox entered a negotiated guilty plea to voluntary manslaughter, family violence battery, possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony, and violating a criminal family violence order. On July 3, 2023, Knox filed a motion to reduce or modify his sentence, arguing that he unwittingly agreed to banishment and that he undertook his actions in self defense.

The trial court denied his motion on July 10, 2023, and Knox filed a notice of appeal, which was file-stamped on August 28, 2023.

This Court, however lacks jurisdiction. To be timely, Knox’s notice of appeal should have been filed within 30 days of the court’s July 10, 2023 order. Here, Knox’s certificate of service is dated August 16, 2023, and the postmark is dated August 17, 2023. Even giving Knox the benefit of the filing date of August 16,1 the application is not timely because it was not filed within 30 days of the trial court’s order. A notice of appeal must be filed within 30 days of entry of the judgment or trial court order sought to be appealed. OCGA § 5-6-38 (a). The proper and timely filing of a notice of appeal is an absolute requirement to confer appellate jurisdiction on this

Under Court of Appeals Rule 4 (c), “[i]n the absence of an official United States Postal Service postmark showing a date on or before the filing deadline, a document submitted by a prisoner who is not represented by an attorney shall be deemed filed on the date the prisoner delivers the document to prison officials for forwarding to the Clerk of the Court of Appeals. This delivery shall be shown by the date on the certificate of service . . .”

Court. Perlman v. Perlman, 318 Ga. App. 731, 739 (4) (734 SE2d 560) (2012).

For these reasons, this appeal is hereby DISMISSED.

Court of Appeals of the State of Georgia Clerk’s Office, Atlanta,____________________ 02/21/2024 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.