PORT ANGELES — A Port Angeles woman who pleaded not guilty Wednesday to vehicular homicide in which a nurse was killed tested for a blood-alcohol content almost three times over the legal limit, a Superior Court judge was told.
Amber D. Steim, 24, faces an April 25 trial in the Class A felony of vehicular homicide under the influence.
Ellen J. DeBondt, 44, of Crescent Beach, a home health nurse affiliated with Olympic Medical Center, was killed in the wreck on state Highway 112 Sunday morning in which Steim’s pickup truck crossed the centerline.
Steim remained in Clallam County jail in lieu $50,000 bail Wednesday night.
Earlier Wednesday, Clallam County Superior Court Judge S. Brooke Taylor lowered the bail from the original $100,000 during Steim’s arraignment.
“That’s as far as it’s going to go,” Taylor said.
“And Ms. Steim, if you do manage to make bail, you will not be behind the wheel of a vehicle under any circumstances.
“Is that clear?”
“Yes, your honor,” Steim replied.
The State Patrol said Steim was driving westbound in a Toyota pickup when the truck collided with a pickup driven by DeBondt on the shoulder of the eastbound lane of Highway 112.
The wreck occurred near Oxenford Road just before 8 a.m. DeBondt was pronounced dead at the scene.
While arguing in court to continue the $100,000 bail, Deputy Prosecuting Attorney John Troberg cited a Port Angeles police interview with Steim at Olympic Medical Center on Sunday in which the officer said Steim was intoxicated and “completely incapable of operating a motor vehicle safely.”
A nurse said Steim’s blood-alcohol level was 0.239 percent, Troberg said.
The legal limit in Washington state is 0.08 percent.
“Anyone who would drive under those conditions is a real threat to the community,” Troberg said.
Ralph Anderson, Steim’s defense attorney, requested a $20,000 bail with the understanding that his client would not be allowed to drive.
“This is a horrible accident,” Anderson said.
“This is tragic, certainly, but our goal, I think, is to make sure there aren’t two tragedies.”
Anderson said Steim suffered a head wound and possibly a concussion in the crash, and that he would seek an escorted furlough for Steim to see a doctor.
Anderson argued that Steim is not a flight risk because she was born and raised in Port Angeles and has good family support.
Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Ann Lundwall countered that Steim grew up in the same household as Bernard Gilbert “Pete” Barnes, a Port Angeles man who pleaded guilty to six felony drug trafficking and money-laundering charges in 2007.
Anderson took issue with the reference.
“First of all, I think that’s the worst kind of guilt by association,” Anderson said.
“Mr. Barnes is in prison and will be in prison for some time to come.
“Mr. Barnes is not her natural father, but there is certainly a relationship there.
“But under the circumstances, I think it’s improper to consider that in a bail hearing.”
Steim’s court record includes a conviction of first-degree negligent driving Jan. 25. She had been arrested Nov. 20 for investigation of physical control of a vehicle under the influence.
Witnesses told police that Steim appeared to be intoxicated as she was buying gas at a Port Angeles convenience store at 2:19 a.m. Nov. 20.
The Port Angeles police report said Steim at that time registered a 0.208 percent blood-alcohol level on a portable breathalyzer.
Steim told police then that she had been arrested for one prior DUI.
Steim was the driver in a car vs. pedestrian collision in 2007 that killed Irene Harris, 44.
Steim was not charged with any crime in that incident, and alcohol was not involved, police said.
An Acura Integra sedan driven by Steim struck Harris in the intersection of Front and Albert streets in Port Angeles.
“The concern here is not to mete out punishment before there is a conviction,” Judge Taylor said Wednesday.
“Ms. Steim is presumed to be innocent until proven otherwise.
“My concern is the driving history and the fact that Ms. Steim is on probation for an alcohol-related driving offense only a month or two into that probation when we have this incident.
“That suggests that she is not paying a great deal of attention to the orders of the District Court, for sure.”
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Reporter Rob Ollikainen can be reached at 360-417-3537 or at rob.ollikainen@peninsuladailynews.com.
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