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Smoot v. State

The evidence did not establish that the defendant was guilty of keeping a place of prostitution.

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A jury convicted Ebony Shaun Smoot of keeping a place of prostitution and possession of less than one ounce of marijuana, and the trial court denied her motion for new trial. On appeal, Smoot contends that there was insufficient evidence to support her conviction for keeping a place of prostitution, and she maintains that the trial court erred in denying her motion for a directed verdict of acquittal on the possession of marijuana charge, in overruling her objections to the admission of certain evidence, and in failing to give her requested jury charges on equal access, mere presence, and mere spatial proximity to drugs. While the trial court acted within its discretion in admitting most of the evidence challenged by Smoot on appeal, we conclude that Smoot’s conviction for keeping a place of prostitution must be reversed because the trial court erroneously allowed the State to introduce into evidence highly prejudicial hearsay statements of a neighborhood group to explain why officers were investigating Smoot’s residence. And, because the remaining competent evidence does not exclude every reasonable hypothesis except that of guilty, double jeopardy principles preclude a retrial on the keeping a place of prostitution charge. In contrast, we affirm Smoot’s conviction for possession of less than one ounce of marijuana for the reasons set forth below.

Following a criminal conviction, the defendant is no longer presumed innocent, and we construe the evidence in the light most favorable to the jury’s verdict. Towry v. State , 304 Ga. App. 139 695 SE2d 683 2010. So viewed, the evidence showed that on the afternoon of September 27, 2010, after receiving complaints from the community about suspicious activity, two police officers conducted surveillance of a residence located in Clayton County. Smoot lived at the residence along with several other women.

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