William Pounds was convicted of malice murder and later filed a motion for new trial. His original motion was timely, but an amended motion filed after the statutory deadline was treated by the trial court as a new motion and denied on the merits. The trial court then granted Pounds an out-of-time appeal. The Georgia Supreme Court dismissed the appeal. The court held that the trial court lacked jurisdiction to rule on the untimely motion as filed, so that merits ruling was invalid. The later grant of an out-of-time appeal did not revive the invalid ruling. Instead, the original motion for new trial remained pending, which meant the notice of appeal had not yet ripened and the trial court retained jurisdiction to rule on the motion. The court explained that the conviction would remain in place if the trial court later denied the motion, at which point the appeal could ripen.