Court Opinion

ID: 9582274
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 22:24:32.901848+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:37:36.497640
License: Public Domain

Deen, Presiding Judge,
dissenting.
I agree with the majority opinion that the appellant’s conviction for possession of marijuana should be affirmed, as there was evidence, viz., the pill bottles bearing his name, connecting him to the marijuana. With regard to the conviction for possession of a firearm, however, there is no other evidence connecting him to the firearm, and under Smith v. State, 180 Ga. App. 657 (350 SE2d 302) (1986), that conviction cannot stand.
This court in Smith did not overlook the Supreme Court decision of Knighton v. State, 248 Ga. 199 (282 SE2d 102) (1981), as one is tacitly led to believe by the majority opinion in this case. Rather, this court properly applied the Knighton rule and correctly reversed the conviction in that case.
The majority opinion relies not upon the holding in Knighton, but upon a footnote, for the proposition that a rebuttable presumption of possession may arise from the fact of ownership or tenancy of premises. That same footnote, however, clearly states that the mere fact of ownership or tenancy of premises is not enough to support a conviction, if those premises are also used by others. That is precisely the situation in the instant case. Even under the Knighton footnote rule, there must be some other evidence connecting the defendant-owner or occupier to the subject matter of the offense. This court properly so held in Smith v. State, supra, following Knighton; it is the majority opinion, and not the court in Smith, that fails to follow *775Knighton.
Decided February 24, 1989
Rehearing denied March 14, 1989
Richard D. Phillips, for appellant.
Glenn Thomas, Jr., District Attorney, Richard H. Taylor, John B. Johnson III, Assistant District Attorneys, for appellee.
The majority opinion further errs in holding that the presumption of possession by the owner/occupier cannot be rebutted by evidence that his or her spouse also occupied the premises. In so holding, the majority opinion relies upon Allums v. State, 161 Ga. App. 842 (288 SE2d 783) (1982), which in turn relied upon Ivey v. State, 226 Ga. 821 (177 SE2d 702) (1970). The rule in Ivey at 824 was that “evidence that [contraband] is located on premises occupied by and under the control of the accused is usually sufficient to sustain a conviction, but that the rule is otherwise where [contraband] is found on premises occupied by the accused and it appears that persons other than the accused and members of his immediate household of which he is the head had equal opportunity with him to commit the crime.” (Emphasis supplied.) Ivey clearly was applying the head of household rule that the Supreme Court ultimately found could not withstand due process scrutiny in Knighton. The majority opinion quotes and emphasizes the language, “members of his immediate household,” and omits altogether the “of which he is the head” part. In so doing, the majority opinion has unwittingly resurrected the unconstitutional sexist distinction put to rest by the Supreme Court in Knighton.
Smith v. State, supra, is a valid and correct application of the Knighton rule. The majority opinion is in error in overruling Smith and in failing to apply it in the instant case. Accordingly, I must respectfully dissent.
I am authorized to state that Presiding Judge Banke and Judge Sognier join in this dissent.