## Facts

- A sheriff’s sergeant stopped a vehicle driving slowly with emergency lights activated to check if assistance was needed.
- The vehicle was owned and driven by Cory Dixon; a juvenile sat in the front passenger seat; Lavashiae Kier and Chiquita Baker sat in the rear seat.
- The officer detected the odor of marijuana and saw smoke inside the car.
- During the investigation, the officer found crack cocaine in the driver’s door compartment and arrested Dixon.
- After removing the passengers, the officer found a recently smoked, hand-rolled marijuana cigarette on the rear floorboard behind the center console.
- The officer arrested all passengers, including Kier, for possession of marijuana based on the single marijuana cigarette.
- At a bench trial, Kier was convicted of possession of less than one ounce of marijuana under OCGA § 16-13-2.
- At trial, Baker testified that Dixon and the juvenile smoked marijuana during the drive, that Kier did not smoke, and that Baker never saw Kier possess marijuana that night.
- The officer’s testimony indicated marijuana residue was found on the floor and the front passenger seat, but not on or near Kier; no paraphernalia was found on Kier; and there was no evidence of flight or impairment by Kier.

## Issues

1. Whether the evidence, viewed in the light most favorable to the verdict, was sufficient to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Kier actually or constructively possessed the marijuana cigarette found in the vehicle.
2. Whether, in a multi-occupant vehicle, the State proved an affirmative link between Kier and the contraband beyond mere presence.
3. Whether the trial court’s denial of a continuance and denial of a motion to produce an incarcerated defense witness violated Kier’s Sixth Amendment rights.

## Decision

- The Court of Appeals of Georgia reversed Kier’s conviction.
- The court held the evidence was insufficient to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Kier possessed the marijuana cigarette, because it showed no connection to Kier other than her presence in the car.
- Because the reversal rested on evidentiary insufficiency, the court did not grant relief on the Sixth Amendment claims.

## Legal Principles

- Constructive possession requires proof that the accused had both the power and the intent to exercise dominion or control over the contraband.
- Mere presence at the scene where contraband is found, without additional evidence of participation or control, is insufficient to sustain a conviction.
- In multi-occupant vehicle cases, the State must present additional evidence linking a particular occupant to the contraband beyond shared access to the vehicle area.
- When the State relies substantially on circumstantial evidence, it must exclude every reasonable hypothesis other than the defendant’s guilt.

## Conclusion

The conviction was reversed because the State’s proof did not establish actual or constructive possession by a rear-seat passenger and did not exclude the reasonable hypothesis that other occupants possessed and used the marijuana while the defendant was merely present.


Kier v. State, 292 Ga. App. 208, 663 S.E.2d 832 (Ga. Ct. App. 2008)