PORT ANGELES — Clallam County Superior Court Judge Ken Williams has dismissed the murder charge against Amber D. Steim, the Port Angeles woman accused of being nearly three times over the legal limit for alcohol when she caused a head-on wreck that killed Ellen Joan DeBondt in March 2011.
Steim, 25, will go to trial July 23 on original charges of vehicular homicide and witness tampering.
Williams granted defense attorney Ralph Anderson’s “Knapstad” motion, based on a 1986 case that allows defendants to the request dismissal of a murder charge.
“The conduct which the state alleges Ms. Steim committed is deplorable,” Williams wrote.
“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.”
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Reporter Rob Ollikainen can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5072, or at rob.ollikainen@peninsuladailynews.com.
