Court of Appeals

of the State of Georgia

ATLANTA,____________________

The Court of Appeals hereby passes the following order:

A16A1945. KAPPELMEIER v. THE STATE.

On September 21, 2015, Gottfried Kappelmeir filed a notice of appeal from an

order of the State Court of Gwinnett County, which entered a judgment of conviction

on the appellant’s nolo contendere plea to violating OCGA § 40-6-48 (1), making an

unsafe lane change, and which imposed a sentence of ten hours of community service.

In his notice of appeal, the appellant stated that the appellate record (as designated

in the attached “Exhibit “A”) should include a list of specific pleadings and

documents. “Exhibit A” expressly states that the record, however, included “no

transcripts.” The appeal was docketed in this Court on June 20, 2016, and the clerk

submitted the record to this court electronically. The record index again noted that the

appellate record included “no transcripts.” 

After the appellant failed to timely file his appellate brief and enumeration of

errors as required by Court of Appeals Rules 22 (a) and 23 (a), this Court ordered the

appellant to file those pleadings by July 25, 2016, or this Court would dismiss the

appeal instanter. The appellant untimely filed his brief on July 28, 2016. The untimely

brief contained no allegation of legal error with respect to the judgment of conviction;

rather, it complained only that “the lower court failed to file a case specific

transcript[.]”

1 Further, the brief does not comply with Court of Appeals Rule 25 as to

1

It is unclear from the record before us whether the appellant’s plea hearing

wastranscribed. In misdemeanor cases, transcription of proceedingsis discretionary.

OCGA § 5-6-41 (b). “[W]here the trial court, sua sponte, has not ordered

[transcription], the indigent defendant, on trial on a misdemeanor charge, must make

a request or motion to the trial court that the evidence and proceedings be reported

August 19, 2016
both form and content.

On August 10, 2016, the appellant filed a “motion to supplement.” The

appellant, citing OCGA § 9-11-15, asserted that “the right to amend is very broad.”

It is unclear from the motion, however, what the appellant sought to amend (e.g., his

brief or the record). It is equally unclear what the appellant wished to add to the

appellate record or to his untimely brief. He provides no citation to the record below,

he makes no legal argument that would be relevant to the judgment appealed, and he

cites to no pertinent legal authority.

On August 12, 2016, the State filed a motion to dismiss the appeal, citing the

appellant’sfailure to comply with this Court’s order. Although this Court isreluctant

to dismissfor procedural irregularities an appellant’sfirst appeal of right in a criminal

case, the appellant is no ordinary pro se appellant nor is he a stranger to this Court.

He hasfiled more than 20 actionsin this Court, many of which lacked merit and were

summarily dismissed. . The appellant has been advised of this Court’s power to

impose sanctions upon a party who fails to comply with the rules or orders of this

Court or who files frivolous appeals. In fact, this Court imposed a $250 penalty

against the appellant in 2013 for filing a frivolous application for discretionary

appeal. Given that the appellant has failed to comply with the Court’s order to timely

file a proper appellate brief and enumeration of errors, the instant appeal is hereby

ordered DISMISSED. The appellant’s motion to supplement is denied as moot.

and transcribed.” Parker v. State, 154 Ga. App. 668, 669 (1) (269 SE2d 518) (1980).

The appellant has not argued that he requested transcription of his plea proceedings.

The record before us only shows that “no transcripts” would be included in the

appellate record.
Court of Appeals of the State of Georgia

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.

08/19/2016