TRIAL ORDERED IN FATAL HEROIN SALE

A Madison man was ordered to stand trial Monday on charges that he
sold heroin that caused a woman's overdose death, following testimony
from a man who was convicted of a similar crime in 1994.

Dane County Circuit Judge Michael Nowakowski ordered Robert D. Steed,
37, to stand trial for allegedly supplying the heroin that caused the
death of Elise Schnitzler, 20, on May 17.

In addition to first-degree reckless homicide, Steed is charged with
three counts of delivering heroin, all during police-controlled drug
purchases made during the investigation that followed Schnitzler's death.

Testimony about one of the police-controlled drug buys came from
Francis K. Thompson, 43.

According to court records, he was convicted in 1994 of first-degree
reckless homicide for causing the drug overdose death of a woman in
1993. When he met Steed on June 7 to buy heroin from him, he
testified, Steed said he was being more careful about sales because
of Schnitzler's death.

"He said people are dropping from it," Thompson testified.

Schnitzler's friend, Kellie Prager, 21, testified that she called
Steed May 16 to buy some heroin. She said she had spent the previous
night at Schnitzler's apartment but admitted on cross examination
that, on the night before that, she had been with Steed at a motel
room having sex in exchange for heroin.

When Prager called Steed May 16, she testified, she asked for "a
favor for a favor" - sex for heroin. He agreed.

The next morning, Prager testified, Steed tried to wake the two
women, but Schnitzler "wasn't breathing as well as she should."
Prager said she tried to give Schnitzler CPR, then tried to call 911
but was unable to find Schnitzler's cell phone.

Prager and Steed carried Schnitzler out to Steed's car, and he drove
them back to Schnitzler's South Hamilton Street apartment. Outside,
she said, she injected Schnitzler with Narcan, a drug used to treat
heroin or morphine overdoses.

Thompson testified that he was working for police when he called
Steed, with a phone number a detective had given him, to buy heroin on June 7.

He met Steed outside the Kollege Klub at Langdon and North Lake
streets, then walked to Walgreens, where the transaction took place
in the candy aisle, Thompson testified.

According to court records, Thompson pleaded no contest in March 1994
to first-degree reckless homicide for supplying the heroin that
killed a woman in 1993. He was sentenced to 10 years in prison.

Thompson is currently serving a five-year prison term for selling
heroin in Dane County in 2005.