Dismissed and Memorandum Opinion filed August 20, 2009.

In The

Fourteenth Court of Appeals

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NO. 14-09-00647-CR

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DAVID JOHN GALLAGHER, Appellant

V.

THE STATE OF TEXAS, Appellee

On Appeal from the 351st District Court

Harris County, Texas

Trial Court Cause No. 1197438

M E M O R A N D U M   O P I N I O N

Appellant pled guilty to the offense of assault and was sentenced on June 12, 2009, to confinement for five years in the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, Institutional Division.  No timely motion for new trial was filed.  Appellant=s notice of appeal was not filed until July 16, 2009.

A defendant=s notice of appeal must be filed within thirty days after sentence is imposed when the defendant has not filed a motion for new trial.  See Tex. R. App. P. 26.2(a)(1).  A notice of appeal that complies with the requirements of Rule 26 is essential to vest the court of appeals with jurisdiction.  Slaton v. State, 981 S.W.2d 208, 210 (Tex. Crim. App. 1998).  If an appeal is not timely perfected, a court of appeals does not obtain jurisdiction to address the merits of the appeal.  Under those circumstances it can take no action other than to dismiss the appeal.  Id.

Accordingly, the appeal is ordered dismissed.

PER CURIAM

Panel consists of Justices Anderson, Guzman, and Boyce.

Do Not Publish C Tex. R. App. P. 47.2(b).