Dexter Ward Presnell v. Paulding County, Georgia

This case involves two separate appeals deriving from a single district court case. 1 As a result of a misidentified fingerprint linking him to a crime scene, Plaintiff Dexter Presnell was indicted for murder, arrested, and spent sixteen months in jail awaiting trial. When the fingerprint examiner was reviewing the evidence in preparation for trial, he realized the mistake, the charges were dropped, and Plaintiff was released. Plaintiff filed suit in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia against Paulding County, Georgia; the Paulding County Sheriffs Department;…