Driver accused of vehicular homicide violated bail conditions by drinking, judge rules

Published 12:01 am Sunday, December 11, 2011

PORT ANGELES — Amber Steim, who is charged with vehicular homicide in a head-on wreck that killed a well-known Crescent Bay nurse in March, violated her bail conditions last month, a Clallam County Superior Court judge has ruled.

Judge Ken Williams found Thursday that the state “met its burden by a preponderance of the evidence . . . that it is more likely than unlikely that Ms. Steim consumed alcohol” in the late evening Oct. 29 or early morning Oct. 30 at a social gathering at her house.

Steim, who posted $100,000 bail after her March arrest, is scheduled to appear before the court on the issue at 9 a.m. Wednesday and could be sent back to jail.

The 24-year-old woman is accused of driving nearly three times over the legal limit for alcohol when she caused the crash that instantly killed Ellen DeBondt, a 44-year-old nurse with Olympic Medical Home Health, on state Highway 112 east of Joyce on March 6.

Steim is also charged with witness tampering for allegedly phoning her mother and a friend from jail and asking them to say she drank alcohol after the wreck because she was in pain.

Police said she had a 0.239 percent blood-alcohol level after the wreck. The legal limit in Washington state is 0.08 percent.

Steim has pleaded not guilty to both charges.

A one-week trial is set to begin Feb. 13.

Clallam County Prosecuting Attorney Deb Kelly filed a motion to revoke Steim’s conditions of release after the Secure Continuous Remote Alcohol Monitor (SCRAM) bracelet she is required to wear registered a peak blood-alcohol reading of 0.058 percent at 1:14 a.m. Oct. 30.

Defense attorney Ralph Anderson on Monday called several witnesses — including Steim — who said she did not drink alcohol at a small gathering of family and friends at her Port Angeles home after carving pumpkins with her son and other children.

Anderson argued that his client’s Oct. 28 hair appointment triggered a false positive reading on the alcohol detection device.

The court found that a subsequent urine analysis drug and alcohol test Oct. 31 had a low creatine level.

That rendered the test invalid, the court said.

“What this is, is a badly diluted sample,” Judge Williams wrote.

“As such is it is unreliable. As such it is likely the result of an attempt to flush Ms. Steim’s system.”

Anderson noted in a three-hour court hearing Monday that Steim has never failed a drug test since her arrest.

Witnesses said alcohol was present at the Oct. 29 gathering but that Steim did not drink.

“There was beer in her home, there was a party (social gathering), her friends were drinking in the same room where she was,” Williams wrote.

“The SCRAM monitor is positive at exactly at that time, and a UA required the next day is diluted.”

If Steim is convicted of vehicular homicide, she faces a sentence of between 31 and 41 months in prison and a $50,000 fine.

The Class A felony carries a sentence of up to life in prison, but since Steim has a low-offender score, the sentence limit is 41 months, Deputy Prosecutor John Troberg has said.

The witness-tampering charge carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison and a $10,000 fine.

Steim was convicted of first-degree negligent driving in January.

She also struck and killed a 49-year-old pedestrian while driving at night in Port Angeles in 2007. No criminal charges were filed after police determined that it was an accident.

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Reporter Rob Ollikainen can be reached at 360-417-3537 or at rob.ollikainen@peninsuladailynews.com.