ATTORNEY PROTESTS HEROIN-RELATED MURDER CHARGE
Client Freed on Bail

TAMPA - Attorneys for a woman accused of giving heroin to a friend who
died of an overdose are challenging the first-degree murder charge
filed against her.

Hillsborough Circuit Judge Cynthia Holloway set bail at $75,000 for
Amy Elizabeth Wytiaz, 19, who was charged with murder in the September
death of her friend, Ismael Quinones, 20.

Authorities said the drugs were supplied to him by Wytiaz. While most
people charged with first-degree murder stay behind bars without bail
until trial, Holloway granted bail after prosecutors were unable to
show they had an overwhelming case against her.

The hearing centered on a law allowing a person to be charged with
murder for providing drugs that lead to a death.

Wytiaz's public defender said her client was not a drug dealer, and
there was no proof that the heroin she supplied Quinones actually killed him.

"Give me a jury of 12 people, and I guarantee you I will walk this
defendant right out the door as she should be walked out the door,"
Assistant Public Defender Lyanne Goudie said.

Goudie called the law illogical and questioned why drug dealers aren't
charged with attempted murder for selling drugs.

Authorities accused Wytiaz in November of supplying $40 worth of
heroin to Quinones and then watching him use it.