We granted Brian O’Neill’s petition for writ of certiorari to review whether the Court of Appeals erred by finding the evidence was sufficient to uphold O’Neill’s conviction for possession of methamphetamine. Bryant v. State , 288 Ga. App. 863 2 655 SE2d 707 2007. Because the Court of Appeals improperly relied on a statement by O’Neill’s co-conspirator that was not admissible against O’Neill pursuant to OCGA § 24-3-52 and the admissible evidence in the record failed to exclude every other reasonable hypothesis except the guilt of the accused, OCGA § 24-4-6, we reverse. The law is well-established that “to warrant a conviction based on circumstantial evidence, the State must prove not only that the evidence is consistent with the hypothesis of guilt, but that every other reasonable hypothesis of nonguilt is excluded.” Footnote omitted. Carr v. State , 251 Ga. App. 117, 118 1 553 SE2d 674 2001. “‘When the circumstantial evidence supports more than one theory, one consistent with guilt and another with innocence, it does not exclude every other reasonable hypothesis except guilt and is not sufficient to prove the defendant’s guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.’ Cit. ‘Circumstantial evidence is worth nothing in a criminal case, if the circumstances are reasonably consistent with the hypothesis of innocence, as well as the hypothesis of guilt.’ Cit.” Cit. Johnson v. State , 159 Ga. App. 497, 499 283 SE2d 711 1981. The evidence in this case1 established that law enforcement officers, acting on information obtained after a drug arrest, knocked on a motel room in Stapleton. Three men were in the room: Bryant, who answered the door; Horton, who had rented the room and was awake on the bed; and O’Neill, who was passed out on the bed. Bryant admitted the officers into the room. Because the first officer saw several knives, including one within a few feet of O’Neill’s hand, the officers asked Horton and O’Neill to get off the bed. When Horton complied, officers saw on the bed an ashtray containing two glass pipes of a type used for smoking methamphetamine. In response to seeing the pipes, the officers placed all three men in handcuffs and searched them. O’Neill was difficult to rouse and so “out of it” that he had to be “sat up” while the officers searched him. Nothing incriminating was found on O’Neill. However, after a packet with suspected methamphetamine in it was found in Horton’s front pocket, the officers searched other containers in the room. Boxes claimed by Bryant and Horton were found to contain methamphetamine and other illegal drugs. Additionally, a ring-sized jewelry box containing 2.8 grams of methamphetamine was found “close to O’Neill . . . between where O’Neill and Horton were laying sic on the bed.”
In regard to the charge against O’Neill, the Court of Appeals upheld his conviction for possession of methamphetamine relying on three evidentiary items: O’Neill’s unconscious condition on the bed in the motel room; his proximity to the jewelry box and glass pipes on the bed; and a statement Bryant or Horton made to a law enforcement officer2 “attributing O’Neill’s unconscious state to the fact that he was having marital problems and had been drinking or smoking the entire night.” Bryant v. State , supra, 288 Ga. App. at 868 2. However, for the reasons that follow, we find that the last item was inadmissible as evidence against O’Neill and the remaining items failed to exclude the reasonable hypothesis that O’Neill had no knowledge of and did not possess the methamphetamine in the jewelry box, inasmuch as his physical condition was due to excessive alcohol consumption or other legal means and the methamphetamine in the jewelry box and the pipes was possessed and smoked by Bryant and/or Horton.
