SUSPECT IN HEROIN OVERDOSE GETS PROBATION

TAMPA - A Former Exotic Dancer Charged With Murder Under A Debated Law Gets
Six Years' Probation And Community Service

When Hillsborough County sheriff's detectives announced the murder charge,
they called it a strong message to drug users and suppliers. But from the
beginning lawyers for the suspect, a 19-year-old former exotic dancer,
called the case weak and without merit.

Last year, Amy Wytiaz was charged with first-degree murder for giving a
friend $40 worth of heroin. The man overdosed and died a short time later.

Wednesday morning, Wytiaz stood before a judge dressed in a conservative
blue shirt with her blond hair pulled into a ponytail. She spoke in a small
voice when Judge Cynthia Holloway asked if she agreed with a plea agreement
cut with prosecutors.

Under it, Wytiaz pleaded guilty to manslaughter, received six years'
probation and 250 hours of community service, and will have to undergo
random drug testing.

If she remains clean for two and a half years, her probation will end.

"I had very mixed emotions about" the deal, said Lyann Goudie, Wytiaz's
attorney. "I felt the state would have a difficult time proving their case.
However, in light of the plea offer, the risk of going to trial, and not
knowing what the jury would do, we decided it was the way to go."

The victim, Ismael Quinones, 20, was found dead in his Carrollwood
apartment Sept 7, 1999. Wytiaz told deputies afterward that she had given
Quinones heroin at her home, then watched him use it, sheriff's reports said.

A medical examiner ruled the death resulted from heroin intoxication. But
Goudie said toxicology tests on Quinones showed he may have taken more
drugs after leaving Wytiaz.

Goudie, who works in the Hillsborough County Public Defender's Office, said
the law under which Wytiaz was charged with murder attacks the wrong
people. "What we are doing is just getting another heroin addict," she said.

Goudie said the law should be aimed at those who are true drug dealers with
extensive criminal histories.

The sheriffs office used the law to charge three people with first- degree
murder last year. Ten people died from heroin intoxication in Hillsborough
County in 1999; 13 died in 1998.