Court Opinion

ID: 9593620
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 00:23:38.106879+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:06:01.563578
License: Public Domain

Beasley, Judge,
concurring specially.
The real problem here is not so much possession of the car but possession of the marijuana. The evidence supports a reasonable inference that the youth was not a mere passenger and otherwise unconnected to the car but instead had procured it for the foursome from his mother and to that extent controlled it and its contents.
However, there was no probative evidence that the marijuana was brought into the car and placed under the back seat where he was sitting while he was in the car, or that he otherwise knew it was there. The evidence that it was recently obtained by the black male from the tavern and, by inference, hidden right behind appellant’s feet, was inadmissible to prove appellant’s guilty knowledge. The reason is that this evidence was hearsay, based totally on what the confidential informant related to the officer. The informant did not testify.
The factfinder would have had to rely on this evidence to draw the inference that appellant participated in secreting the two 2”x3” manila envelopes and the 6 Vis” by 3 Vis” package of rolling papers or at least that he knew they were beneath his seat and attempted to bluff the officer by exhibiting some naive bravado in permitting the search. Thus, neither constructive possession in violation of OCGA § 16-13-2 (b) nor aiding and abetting in the commission of the same (OCGA § 16-2-20 (b) (3)) could be supported.
With this addition, I concur fully with the opinion.