ATTORNEY PROTESTS HEROIN-RELATED MURDER CHARGE
Client Granted Bail

A woman accused of giving a friend heroin that killed him was granted
bail Thursday, although she remains in jail.

Hillsborough Circuit Judge Cynthia Holloway set bail at $75,000 for
Amy Elizabeth Wytiaz.

The 19-year-old woman is charged with first-degree murder in the
September death of a friend who overdosed on heroin. 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 Wytiaz bail after
prosecutors were unable to show they had an overwhelming case against
her.

She remained at the Orient Road jail late Thursday.

Although bail rested on the strength of the state's case, the hearing
centered on the logic of a law that allows a person to be charged with
murder for providing drugs that kill someone.

Wytiaz's lawyer said her client was not a drug dealer, and there was
no proof that the heroin she supplied 20-year-old Ismael 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.

Calling the law illogical, Goudie 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.

She was one of about four people in Hillsborough County charged with
murder last year for allegedly supplying drugs to someone who later
died of an overdose.

Hillsborough Sheriff's deputies called a new conference in July to
announce the arrest of three people charged under the law and to say
they were sending a message to the drug culture.

Quinones had been arrested last year on charges including possession
of marijuana with intent to sell.