Bell v. State

IN THE UTAH COURT OF APPEALS
 

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Ariel E. Bell,

Petitioner and Appellant,

v.

State of Utah,

Respondent and Appellee.

MEMORANDUM DECISION
(Not For Official Publication)
 

Case No. 20040747-CA
 

F I L E D
(October 21, 2004)
 

2004 UT App 374

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Seventh District, Moab Department

The Honorable Lyle R. Anderson

Attorneys: Hakeem Ishola, Salt Lake City, for Appellant

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Before Judges Bench, Davis, and Orme.

PER CURIAM:

    Ariel Bell seeks to appeal the dismissal of his petition for post-conviction relief. This is before the court on its own motion for summary disposition.

    Generally, appeals may be taken from "all final orders and judgments." Utah R. App. P. 3(a). To perfect an appeal, the notice of appeal must be filed within thirty days after the date of entry of the judgment or order appealed from. See Utah R. App. P. 4(a). If an appeal is not timely filed, this court lacks jurisdiction to consider the appeal. See Serrato v. Utah Transit Auth., 2000 UT App 299,¶7, 13 P.3d 616.

    Bell's petition was dismissed by an order entered May 27, 2004. Bell did not file his notice of appeal until August 25, 2004, well beyond the thirty day time frame in which to timely file an appeal. Bell asserts that the order was not a final order, and thus his appeal may be premature, but is not late. However, the order entered by the trial court disposed of the matter before the court, was captioned an order, was signed by the trial court, and was entered by the clerk of the court. It was clearly a final order. As a result, Bell's notice of appeal was untimely and this court lacks jurisdiction.

    When this court determines it lacks jurisdiction, it retains only the authority to dismiss the action. See Varian-Eimac, Inc. v. Lamoreaux, 767 P.2d 569, 570 (Utah Ct. App. 1989).

    Accordingly, Bell's appeal is dismissed.

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Russell W. Bench,

Associate Presiding Judge

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James Z. Davis, Judge

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Gregory K. Orme, Judge