MOBILE COUNTY, Ala. ( WKRG ) — A teenager suspected of dealing a fatal dose of fentanyl to a recent Mary G. Montgomery graduate was granted bond on Friday.
Baldwin County High School teacher, coach arrested and placed on administrative leave
Brayden Hollie, 19, was arrested on Thursday. He was charged with manslaughter under a new fentanyl statute for the death of 18-year-old Jayce Ward.
A judge set Hollie’s bond at $40,000.
Ward’s family believed that Ward took what he thought was a Percocet on Aug. 5. Ward was found dead the next day.
“Jayce was a wonderful child,” Ashely Rowell, Ward’s Aunt, said.
Rowell said Ward had recently gotten out of a voluntary 33-day inpatient drug rehab. The teen was found dead just 48 hours after he left.
Rowell was seen sitting in the front row of the courtroom, listening to the judge speak with Hollie on a virtual meeting with Metro Jail inmates.
“While this will be a terribly painful process to go through, it’s a part of the process and it is what is necessary,” Rowell said.