PORT ANGELES — A Clallam County judge has dismissed a first-degree murder charge against a Port Angeles woman accused of being nearly three times over the legal limit for alcohol in a head-on wreck that killed a nurse in March 2011.
But Superior Court Judge Ken Williams, saying that the allegations that remain against Amber D. Steim, 25, are “deplorable,” ruled that Steim must face three serious charges — vehicular homicide, reckless endangerment and witness tampering — in the crash that killed Ellen Joan DeBondt on state Highway 112 west of Port Angeles.
Williams on Friday granted defense attorney Ralph Anderson’s motion based on a 1986 case, State v. Knapstad.
“The conduct which the state alleges Ms. Steim committed is deplorable,” Williams said in his written decision.
“If the state can prove the conduct alleged, her actions are clearly criminal. If the state can prove all of its allegations as to her conduct, her actions would constitute vehicular homicide and she should be punished accordingly.”
Williams continued: “Nothing the state presents, however, raises her driving conduct itself to the level required to meet the second prong of the statute, i.e., conduct that created a ‘grave risk of death.’
“The factual allegations of the state, even when inferences are construed in the state’s favor, do not rise to the level which could reasonably sustain the current charge of murder in the first degree.”
If convicted on the remaining charges, Steim faces a sentencing range of 55 months to 65 months in prison, Anderson said.
Clallam County Prosecuting Attorney Deb Kelly was not immediately available for comment.
Kelly charged Steim with first-degree murder with extreme indifference in April after picking up the case from Deputy Prosecuting Attorney John Troberg.
Anderson on Monday said Williams’ ruling was “the right thing to do.”
“Every prosecutor I talked to could not believe that someone would try to file murder [charges against Steim],” Anderson said.
“We’re absolutely thrilled that Judge Williams had the courage and judicial insight to dismiss the murder charge.”
Anderson told Williams in a June 28 hearing that the facts don’t support a murder charge.
Kelly, who filed her own motion on June 19, countered that there was probable cause to charge Steim with murder. She added that the defense did not follow the appropriate procedure for a Knapstad motion.
Anderson said the state Legislature never intended for murder to be applied in a case like Steim’s.
“Amber doesn’t even have a prior DUI,” he added.
Investigators said Steim was driving westbound on Highway 112 with a 0.23 percent blood-alcohol level when she allegedly crossed the centerline and rumble strip in a pickup truck and crashed into another truck driven by DeBondt at 7:54 a.m. on March 6, 2011.
The State Patrol said DeBondt was killed instantly. Anderson said he will argue that DeBondt died because she was denied medical services at the scene.
DeBondt, 44, was a well-known home health nurse and outdoorswoman from Crescent Bay. She was on her way to work when the wreck occurred.
DeBondt’s friends and family members have worn pink hearts in her memory during the parade of pre-trial court hearings during the past 16 months.
Steim posted a $100,000 bail 10 days after the incident, but was sent back to jail after the remote alcohol-monitoring bracelet she was required to wear detected a 0.058 percent blood-alcohol level last October.
Anderson said it is unclear whether the trial will begin as scheduled later this month. He said he needed to speak with his client and Kelly to determine the next steps.
Court papers allege that Steim drank alcohol at a friend’s birthday party at a Port Angeles bar and hotel in the early morning hours of March 6, leaving the hotel at 5:30 a.m.
Companions told Steim that she was too drunk to drive only a few hours before the crash, court papers said.
Steim and her friend, Nicole Boucher, were on their way to Freshwater Bay when the wreck occurred.
The witness-tampering charge stems from an alleged phone call Steim placed from jail in which she allegedly asked Boucher to remind her lawyer that she drank alcohol after the crash because she was in pain.
A second witness-tampering charge for a similar phone call placed to Steim’s mother was dismissed because the mother was not aware that the conversation was being recorded.
Steim was treated for a concussion and other injuries at Olympic Medical Center before she was jailed.
Boucher suffered minor injuries but declined medical aid.
Steim was charged with physical control of a vehicle while being under the influence of alcohol after a November 2010 incident at a Port Angeles gas station.
She was convicted of first-degree negligent driving for that incident in January 2011. That conviction applies to her sentencing range.
In 2007, Steim struck and killed a pedestrian while driving sober at night. It was ruled an accident and Steim was not charged.
“Here, Ms. Steim’s pre-driving knowledge and history are all proper factors to be used to assess the question of the mens rea [guilty mind] of indifference to consequences of her conduct which caused death,” Williams wrote in his 13-page ruling.
“However, there must be conduct which in and of itself creates a grave risk of death for that evidence to even be considered.
“That conduct, when it is driving, must be more than inattention, more than negligence, even more than the recklessness we see as an element of other crimes,” Williams added.
“It must be conduct so egregious that it is ‘likely’ to cause death. Otherwise, only the crime of vehicular homicide has been committed as a matter of law.”
Reporter Rob Ollikainen can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5072, or at rob.ollikainen@peninsuladailynews.com.