The Arkansas Supreme Court has overturned the conviction of a woman sentenced to 20 years in prison after giving birth to a baby with methamphetamine in his system.
The court handed down the decision Thursday for 39-year-old Melissa McCann-Arms. She and her son tested positive for the drug after she gave birth in 2012. She was convicted of a felony crime called introduction of controlled substance into body of another person.
The state's highest court reversed McCann-Arms' conviction and dismissed the case, ruling there is no evidence she directly introduced methamphetamine into her baby's system by causing the child to ingest or inhale it.
The court also ruled state law does not criminalize passive bodily processes that result in a mother's use of a drug entering her unborn child's system.
