Fort Dodge Woman Wins Six-Figure Settlement for Wrongful Arrest

(Webster City, IA) — A woman who spent 23 days in the Hamilton County Jail on an attempted murder charge has won an out-of-court settlement of 425-thousand dollars for what her attorney calls a wrongful arrest. In September 2019, the Hamilton County Sheriff’s issued an arrest warrant for 43-year-old Jennifer Sue Pritchard of Fort Dodge for allegedly driving a vehicle while her boyfriend shot at a camper in rural Stratford. The only thing was, Pritchard was not driving the vehicle and was never in Hamilton County at the time. She was at work in Fort Dodge, with witnesses and video footage to prove it. Pritchard argued that the Hamilton County Sheriff’s office had the evidence exonerating her for ten days before she was given a pretrial release from jail, and for more than month before the charges were finally dismissed.