Posted on 12/19/2025 5:24:08 AM PST by xxqqzz
This video details a woman's harrowing experience, jailed for three months after a bag of cotton candy was mistaken for methamphetamine due to flawed technology.
As a criminal law lawyer, I question the justice system's reliance on such unreliable evidence and its profound impact on individuals' constitutional rights. This case exemplifies severe police misconduct and wrongful arrest, reminding us that being arrested doesn't equate to guilt. I’m J. Scott Smith, a North Carolina criminal defense lawyer, and for nearly two decades I’ve defended people accused of serious drug crimes. In this video, we expose how these roadside drug tests work, why they are dangerously unreliable, and how they’re still used to justify arrests, charges, and massive bonds across North Carolina and the United States.
Police often rely on these tests during traffic stops and searches, claiming a color change proves drugs are present. But these kits are not definitive science. They are presumptive tests known to produce false positives with everyday items like sugar, candy, medication, and household products. Despite this, officers continue to use them as probable cause—raising serious Fourth Amendment concerns about unlawful searches and seizures.
If you’re searching for a North Carolina drugs lawyer, a criminal drugs lawyer, or a Greensboro drug possession lawyer, this video explains why so many drug cases fall apart once a skilled defense attorney challenges the evidence. Many people plead guilty simply to get out of jail—long before a real lab ever confirms whether the substance was illegal at all.
(Excerpt) Read more at youtube.com ...
One thing’s for damn sure...that woman has won the lottery. I think I would have done 3 months in jail in return for a $20 million settlement from the police department responsible.
I didn’t watch the entire video, but I hope every officer involved in that snafu has been if not fired, then demoted or reassigned. That’s ridiculous.
Typical lawyer BS. There are test kits that are accurate. The science is good. Problem is when your government leaders want to cut corners and buy cheap crap that doesn’t work. Then again, I don’t want them wasting my tax money either, so a catch-22.
Besides she didn’t make bail? 3 months without mail on a non-violent possession?
She filed a federal lawsuit against the county, the cops and the maker of the drug test. All of them were dismissed. She got nothing.
Not a darned thing happened to anyone. All of her lawsuits were dismissed.
Another cop-bashing video from a lawyer-gone-fishing. (I hate lawyers) , but I have to admit, this is a new one! My husband has been a cop for 34 years and we have family and friends who are cops from NE to CA, we ARE in GA, and never, once, have I heard of those tests being wrong. What’s your cut of the lawsuit, counselor? I am sick of the sleeze constantly going after cops who have a lousy job trying to enforce laws they had nothing to do with.
A million dollar bail... that’s 100K out of pocket you don’t get back if you had to post a bond. Doesn’t appear to me she could do that much less paying full cash bail of a million dollars.
The bail was 1 million dollars. A bondsman would normally require $100,000. The cotton candy was blue, so the Sirche kit turned blue. She filed a lawsuit which was dismissed Even after the results from the state lab was returned, she was not released for two weeks, and the case was not dismissed for another two weeks. It was blue cotton candy.
. But these kits are not definitive science. They are presumptive tests known to produce false positives with everyday items
Defense lawyers have destroyed the American criminal law system.
“Lawyer gone-fishing?” You mean like pulling a car over for tint? That's nothing BUT a fishing trip... same as the old license plate light.
Seems to me a little bit of common sense could have been employed roadside that would have settled all this mess right there and then. The cops actually SNIFFED the bag. Both of them! I mean, c’mon, the cops even stated they thought it was cotton candy at the scene. So why test it?
THEY TESTED IT BECAUSE THEY HAD TO FIND SOMETHIING. They pulled the car on tint... I wonder if they ever tested the windows? Hummmm....
Those tests provide false positives anywhere from 15-38% of the time and are the “largest known contributing factor to wrongful arrests and convictions in the US. Sirchie, one of the leading roadside/field drug test manufacturers, added a warning label to its printed cocaine test instructions stating “ALL TEST RESULTS MUST BE CONFIRMED BY AN APPROVED ANALYTICAL LABORATORY”. In virtually all jurisdictions, due to their known inaccuracy, the $2 roadside/field drug tests are inadmissible at trial. Instead, for trial purposes, prosecutors must obtain a much more reliable laboratory test.”
Over 90% of drug possession cases never go to trial because the defendants plea out.
They are literally handed a Hobson’s Choice of going home with a drug conviction or staying in jail for months waiting on a lab review while risking their jobs, homes, and children, to prove their innocence. As a result, the majority of those jailed accept plea deals that leave them burdened with a drug possession conviction. A lot of those folks are entirely innocent but jailed based on the results of a drug test that is known to give false positives. It's BS is what it is.
flawed technology.
That’s a new one for the books?.
Defense lawyers have destroyed the American criminal law system.
But this does point to something that needs to be improved.
With what is found in cotton candy at some carnivals, its probably worse for you than meth.
With punitive damages, the lawsuit should net at least $100 million!!! And before election time, let the North Carolina taxpayers know it will come out of their pockets.
Thank you. Now for the rest:
I don’t know about you, but I loathe those lawyer ads on TV fishing for targets and suckers. “Sometimes I think old Billy was right, let’s kill all the lawyers, kill ‘em tonight”- Don Henley.
Whether or not you agree with the laws regarding tint levels, EVERY law is passed by legislators (a great many of whom are lawyers), NOT the cops. AND the tint laws make a LOT of sense, but that’s another topic for another time. If one does not like the laws, then one votes accordingly.
I do not accept your stats.
Petty criminals accept pleas because they are guilty and they can’t afford the fight. Pleas take on other problems in bigger cases, as in the case of Derek Chauvin- again, another debate for another time. What that lawyer DIDN’T mention is that whether or not it is actually a drug doesn’t end at the roadside. It is tagged, bagged and submitted to the states’ crime labs for further testing. The only time it is refused is when the only thing submitted is the little NARK II or NIK samples. In this case the video shows a plastic bag with a handful of substance that would have gone to GA’s crime lab. That lawyer didn’t mention that in the video.
My son followed his dad into police work and left after 10 years to go back to school for pre-law. I can’t tell you how glad I am that he took another path- I would hate to lose respect for my boy.
Do you know why sharks never bite lawyers? Professional courtesy.
“Defense lawyers have destroyed the American criminal law system.”
In my opinion not just defense lawyers but the whole legal bureaucracy to include the defense, the prosecution, the legislators and all involved, at least many of them if not most.
Tint levels, along with license plate lights, where written into laws as a result of the LEO Unions using lobbyists to sway congress.
Please post you own stats to refute those I posted. Simply writing, “I do not accept your stats,” sounds awfully liberal of you. I assume you’re directly opposite of liberal.
“Petty criminals accept pleas because they are guilty and they can’t afford the fight.” In this one sentence, you have completely destroyed any credibility you may have had. You simply assume all people who were arrested on drug possession charges are petty criminals and guilty. The subject of the video had NO CRIMINAL HISTORY.
The video did refer to the cotton candy being sent to the lab for testing. That’s why she stayed in jail for three months. She didn’t plea and fought for her innocence.
She missed the births of her twin grandkids and being able to help her daughter through a miscarriage while she was down.
When she rightly sued the county, the LEOs and the test maker, all of the suits were dismissed. She lost things she’ll never get back just because a couple of cops pulled her friend over on a “fishing trip” hoping to establish PC so they could bust them on something else other than the tint. They were on camera agreeing the substance was probably cotton candy. That is the point where things should’ve deescalated and they parted ways with a possible ticket on the tint. We don’t know if they even measured the tint.
Now then, it was definitely the driver’s fault for allowing a search of the vehicle. He never should’ve done that. He should’ve gotten the reason they were pulled, which would’ve been the tint, allowed them to test the tint, and either drove away with a ticket for the tint, or without because the tint was good to go. He was done for once he allowed the search.
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