Charges stiffened in fatal overdose of Puyallup teen

An 18-year-old high-school senior who prosecutors say failed to provide adequate aid to a classmate — who overdosed on Ecstasy on New Year's Eve and later died — is now facing a charge of first-degree manslaughter, which could result in a prison term of more than eight years.

Donalydia Huertas, of Puyallup, had previously been charged with controlled-substance homicide, a juvenile-court charge that could have resulted in a standard sentencing range of zero to 30 days in jail. But Snohomish County prosecutors on Tuesday amended the charge so Huertas would be tried in adult court and also charged her with the more severe crime of manslaughter.

Deputy Prosecutor Coleen St. Clair wrote in the amended charging documents that she filed the two adult charges after plea negotiations on the juvenile charge had not resulted in a resolution. St. Clair said Huertas told other people not to help Danielle McCarthy, also of Puyallup, even though the 16-year-old was violently sick and pleading for help.

"One is a crime [controlled-substance homicide] based simply on the fact of causation: You give someone the drugs and they die," said Snohomish County Deputy Prosecutor Joan Cavagnaro. "The other [manslaughter] involves the additional involvement of recklessness — being aware of a risk and failing to account for it."

Prosecutors allege that neither Huertas nor co-defendant David Morris, a 20-year-old Puyallup man charged with controlled-substance homicide, sought help for McCarthy until it was too late.

On New Year's Eve, McCarthy, Huertas, who was 17, and Morris drove from Puyallup to parties in Edmonds and on the University of Washington's Greek Row. Witnesses said that during the evening McCarthy had taken Ecstasy that Huertas bought from Morris, according to charging papers.

But after taking a second tablet, she grew nauseated, the charging papers say. She stayed in the car, drowsing, while the others partied.

By the time the group got back to Edmonds, around 4 a.m., McCarthy was incoherent and drifting in and out of consciousness. She soon had a seizure, court papers said.

When someone tried to awaken McCarthy at 6:30 a.m., the girl's face was cold and her lips were blue. In court papers, Huertas told police she did what she could to save her friend. She helped put McCarthy in a warm bath, splashed water on her face, tried to breathe life into her and helped bundle her in towels, according to court papers. Huertas and Morris then drove McCarthy to Stevens Hospital in Edmonds, where she was pronounced dead.

Huertas will be arraigned Monday. Her attorney, Lance Hester, declined to comment Tuesday.

Prosecutors said that charging someone who gave drugs to an overdose victim is rare. Adding manslaughter to a controlled-substance-abuse charge has likely never been done in Snohomish County, prosecutors said.

"I think we've charged controlled-substance homicide in this office maybe three times," Cavagnaro said. "It's difficult to prove the elements of the crime. I imagine that most of the time that someone dies of an overdose there aren't many witnesses around."

Jennifer Sullivan: 206-464-8294 or jensullivan@seattletimes.com