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Instead, the Sheriff's Office says it will cite her for littering, a civil charge that should not violate her probation. She'll face a $50 fine.
By RYAN DAVIS
© St. Petersburg Times, published April 11, 2001
LAND O'LAKES -- Gladys Louise Lewis won't be charged for throwing a cigarette out a car window last month.
Prosecutors on Tuesday said it would be hard to prove the cigarette "may" cause a wildfire, as the statute requires.
They also said the 16 hours Lewis spent in jail after her arrest was punishment enough.
"I think the majority of people who read about it were surprised," said Bruce Bartlett, Pinellas-Pasco's chief assistant state attorney, who had never known of the statute previously.
Lewis' arrest signaled how far authorities would go to stress dangers of drought.
But it also threatened to put the 37-year-old Land O'Lakes woman in prison. On the misdemeanor charge of disposing of a lighted substance she faced a year in jail and a $1,000 fine, and because she was on probation for a 1998 aggravated assault conviction, Lewis faced up to five years in prison for violation of probation.
Her arraignment was scheduled for April 17, she said. She was preparing her boyfriend, one of her estranged daughters, her mother and other friends in case she might be locked up.
"I was making arrangements to say "bye,' " Lewis told the Times on Tuesday.
She should not have to worry about that now, Bartlett said.
The Pasco County Sheriff's Office intends to cite Lewis for littering, a spokesman said, but that is a civil charge and should not be a violation of her probation, Bartlett said. She will face a $50 fine.
"Although we are convinced deputy (Rafthel Morales-Santos) had proper cause to take the action he took, the State Attorney's Office makes the final decision on prosecution," sheriff's spokesman Jon Powers said.
Lewis was arrested March 7 on State Road 54 after she threw out a cigarette near Old Pasco Road, she said. A friend had handed her the cigarette after finishing it. Lewis said it was burnt to the filter and could not have caused a fire.
She did not have identification with her and was taken to jail, where she was held in lieu of $5,000 bail until a judge released her that night.
Her case drew attention across the overly dry state. She said she became known simply as "the woman with the cigarette butt."
"They used me to let the people know that this is a law and we've got to be careful," she said Tuesday after learning from a Times reporter that the charges were dropped.
Ashtrays have become her best friend, she said.
"My ashtrays," she said, "are always full in my car."