Teen charged in Ecstasy death case
Published 10:03 pm Tuesday, September 18, 2007
A Puyallup teen who allegedly resisted getting medical attention for a friend who overdosed on the drug Ecstasy was charged Tuesday with first-degree manslaughter in the death of Danielle Dawn McCarthy.
Donalydia Huertas, 18, previously was charged with the crime of controlled substance homicide in Snohomish County Juvenile Court.
On Tuesday, she was charged as an adult with that crime and the manslaughter in Superior Court after plea negotiations broke down and Huertas turned 18, deputy prosecutor Colleen St. Clair said. The first-degree manslaughter is a charge that automatically is handled in adult court.
Huertas is charged with purchasing four tablets of Ecstasy and giving two of them to McCarthy, who was 16 when she died after attending a New Year’s Eve party in Edmonds.
According to charging papers, Huertas repeatedly refused to seek medical attention for McCarthy when the younger girl became ill after ingesting two tablets of the drug. Huertas allegedly purchased the drugs from another person attending the party, David Michael Morris, 20, also of Puyallup.
Morris has been charged with controlled substance homicide in Superior Court. His trial is scheduled for January, St. Clair said.
Controlled substance homicide has been on the law books for years, but it is seldom charged in court, often because it’s difficult to trace the source of drugs in fatal overdose cases, prosecutors said.
In Tuesday’s charging papers, McCarthy showed signs of a drug overdose about 1 a.m. Jan. 1. During the next eight hours, she vomited, became unable to walk, lost consciousness and went into a seizure, documents said. According to court papers, Huertas and Morris at one point put McCarthy in a warm bath and splashed water in her face.
A doctor at Stevens Hospital pronounce her dead about 9:45 a.m. when her companions finally took her to the hospital, documents said.
Reporter Jim Haley: 425-339-3447 or jhaley@heraldnet.com.
