More than three years after a Macon woman spent months in jail when her cotton candy was mistakenly tested as methamphetamine, her lawsuit against the county authorities who locked her up was dismissed.
According to court documents from the District Court for the Middle District of Georgia, the court ruled against Dasha Fincher, saying she will receive “nothing” in damages.
She spent three months in jail after being granted a $1 million bond due to meth trafficking charges she faced over the inaccurate drug test, AJC.com previously reported. Her suit was against the Monroe County Board of Commissioners, two deputies and the drug test manufacturer, Sirchie Acquisition Company.
RELATED: Georgia woman sues after spending 3 months in jail — for possessing cotton candy
On New Year’s Eve 2016, Fincher was in a car that was pulled over by deputies Cody Maples and Allen Henderson, according to an incident report. The deputies said they pulled over the vehicle for a window tint violation, but the window tint didn’t end up violating state laws.
Fincher and the car’s driver, David Morris Jr., both had suspended licenses, the deputies said. During a search of the vehicle, they also found a “plastic bag filled with a blue crystal-like substance in the passenger side floorboard,” according to the report.
Credit: WGXA
Credit: WGXA
Fincher said the contents of the bag was cotton candy. However, the deputies performed a Nark II roadside kit that came back positive for meth, and both Morris and Fincher were arrested. Fincher’s lawsuit alleged that the tests have a “history of producing false positive results.”
Deputies charged Fincher with trafficking meth and possession of meth with intent to distribute, and her bond was set at $1 million. She couldn’t afford the bond, so she remained in jail for three months while the GBI tested the substance.
In March 2017, the GBI said the blue material contained no controlled substances, and she was released from jail April 4. Her charges were dropped about two weeks later.
The lawsuit did not mention what happened to Morris after his arrest.
Macon-based news station WGXA obtained the court's March 30 ruling that dismissed Fincher's suit, which is embedded below.
No other information on the case was immediately available.
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