Accused drug dealer will head to trial in overdose death of Plant High student

TAMPA, Fla. - An accused drug dealer facing first-degree murder charges will head to trial for his role in the death of a Plant High School student. 

Garland Layton's public defender Jennifer Spradley explained in court that he wants to go forward with his trial. 

Layton, the accused drug dealer, is facing first-degree murder charges in the death of Plant High student Katie Golden five years ago. Prosecutors said Layton sold drugs to Golden and her boyfriend, Titan Goodson. 

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Prosecutor Scott Harmon said Golden died of a drug overdose. 

"It was that second round of heroin that they used later that evening that ended up killing Katie Golden, she ended up passing away because of the heroin they had bought from this defendant," Harmon told the judge.

Goodson was arrested and later pled guilty to reduced charges for evidence tampering and drug possession. Now, Goodson will be a key witness for the state in Layton's trial.

Just last month, Chrystal Gayle Post was the first drug dealer in Hillsborough County to plead guilty to manslaughter charges after she sold drugs to a woman who died from a lethal overdose. Prosecutors said the drugs were a deadly mix of heroin, fentanyl and meth. Post is serving a 10-year prison sentence.

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Now, Garland will be the first accused drug dealer to go to trial on a murder charge and leave his fate up to a jury.