13-05-2025
Clayton County Jail nurse suing investigator over alleged wrongful arrest
The Brief
A nurse working at the Clayton County Jail is suing one of the county's investigators after she was arrested for allegedly giving prohibited medication to an inmate.
In 2023, deputies arrested Jessica Marie Cotney and charged her with furnishing prohibited items to inmates - a charge that has since been dropped.
Her attorney claims the jail's contract with its medical provider allows nurses to give Benadryl without a physician's order, and that she wasn't the one who gave the medication in the first place.
CLAYTON COUNTY, Ga. - A nurse working at the Clayton County Jail has filed a lawsuit against a deputy after she says she was arrested for allegedly giving Benadryl to an inmate.
Investigators arrested Jessica Marie Cotney in May 2023 and charged her with furnishing prohibited items to inmates - a charge that has since been dropped.
What we know
According to a release by the Clayton County Sheriff's Office, Cotney and an officer were both arrested after they were accused of providing "contraband items" to prisoners.
In the lawsuit, Cotney's attorney says the medication that she provided was "an over-the-counter medication that jail nurses everywhere, including at the Clayton County Jail, are authorized to give without a doctor's orders."
While the attorney argues that the arrest was unfounded, they specifically accuse the investigator in the case of making false statements in his warrant application, saying that Cotney was not the nurse who gave Benadryl to an arrested correctional officer. Instead, she gave a different nurse the medication because she was told not to visit the jailed officer.
The attorney claims that the healthcare provider for the jail has a standing order allowing nurses to administer Benadryl and other over-the-county drugs without needing a physician's order.
Cotney had also been charged with obstruction of an officer, which the lawsuit claims is because she did not come in to be interviewed for the investigation at 2 a.m. because of her young child. She had allegedly asked for the interview to happen the next morning.
What they're saying
"This was an unjust and baseless prosecution stemming from warrants that never should have been issued," Cotney's attorney, Mark Begnaud, said. "Jessica Cotney is a dedicated nurse who was simply following standard procedure, yet her life was needlessly disrupted by these false charges. She deserves justice."
Dig deeper
The lawsuit claims that Cotney's arrest and subsequent news coverage left her with emotional distress, humiliation and reputational harm.
She's asking the court to award her compensatory and punitive damages as well as attorney fees.
The Source
Information for this story came from a previous FOX 5 reporting and a copy of Cotney's lawsuit.
