PANAMA CITY — A Southport woman who was high on meth when she crashed into a tree and killed her passenger — and concealed meth in a bodily cavity while incarcerated, awaiting trial — has been sentenced to eight years in prison.
Jessica Finch, 27, was sentenced Wednesday for DUI manslaughter after a June 2013 single-car crash with a tree on County 2301 near Commander Lane. Finch was critically injured in the 4 p.m. collision and her passenger, then 27-year-old Justin Collins, suffered fatal injuries. He died in a local hospital about three hours later.
Florida Highway Patrol reports indicated Finch and Collins were traveling 34 mph at the time, and blood test results showed she had methamphetamine and amphetamine in her system at the time of the crash, according to Florida Department of Law Enforcement tests.
Additional charges were filed against Finch in May, while incarcerated, when officers were told she was in possession of meth. During their search, Bay County Jail guards allegedly found two baggies containing crystal methamphetamine hidden in a hollowed out deodorant bottle and sealed in a latex glove in one of Finch’s body cavities, according to court records.
Finch was also sentenced to five year sentences for two meth offenses to be served concurrently.