PORT ANGELES — Amber Steim took the stand Monday and repeated what her friends, family and defense attorney had already said: that she did not drink alcohol Oct. 29.
Steim, 24, is charged with vehicular homicide and witness tampering in connection with a March 6 wreck on state Highway 112 that killed 44-year-old Ellen DeBondt, a well-known Crescent Bay nurse and outdoors enthusiast.
Steim is accused of driving with nearly three times over the limit for alcohol when she crossed the centerline and struck a vehicle driven by DeBondt.
Steim, who is free on $100,000 bail, is set to go to trial Feb. 13.
Monday’s hearing was on Clallam County Prosecuting Attorney Deb Kelly’s motion to revoke Steim’s bail after the alcohol-detection bracelet she is required to wear detected a positive reading the night of Oct. 29 and into the early morning hours of Oct. 30.
About two dozen people attended the motion hearing wearing pink hearts on their shirts in memory of DeBondt.
After a three-hour hearing, Clallam County Superior Court Judge Ken Williams said he would review written material from an expert witness on alcohol-detection bracelets before ruling on Kelly’s motion to revoke conditions of release.
The expert witness was preparing to undergo surgery for throat cancer Monday, Kelly said.
Williams said he will make his ruling “hopefully this week.”
“The state’s position is, in brief, that Ms. Steim violated her conditions of release by drinking the night of Oct. 29 and perhaps into the early morning of Oct. 30,” Kelly said.
The transdermal alcohol-monitoring bracelet, which measures alcohol in perspiration, detected
a peak blood-alcohol level of 0.058 percent on Steim at 1:14 a.m. Oct. 30.
Questioned reliability
Port Angeles defense attorney Ralph Anderson called into question the reliability of the Secure Continuous Remote Alcohol Monitor, or SCRAM, bracelets.
He said hair care and personal hygiene products can trigger a positive reading, noting that there were two sharp drop-offs to zero in the alcohol readings on Steim’s bracelet.
“That is not reflective of consumed alcohol,” Anderson said.
“The studies and literature say that is reflective of hair care products or personal hygiene products.”
Anderson’s first witness was Sassy Kat Salon & Boutique owner Janee Lyster, who testified that she treated Steim’s hair with three types of hair products, all of which contain alcohol, on Oct. 28.
On direct examination, Anderson asked Steim if she drank alcohol — or was offered any alcohol — at a social gathering at her Port Angeles home Oct. 29.
“No,” Steim said.
If she drinks alcohol or drives, “my bail would be revoked and I would be remanded to jail,” Steim said.
Anderson said the positive reading was the result of the hair appointment that she had at about noon Oct. 28.
He said the precipitous drop-off in the alcohol-monitor readings indicates exposure to hair care products, not alcohol.
Steim has been subjected to regular urine analysis tests for drugs and alcohol since April. She has passed every test, Anderson said.
Witnesses testified that some people at a small social gathering Oct. 29 drank alcohol, but not Steim.
“My brother and his girlfriend were in town visiting me and my daughter,” Steim said.
“We carved pumpkins all night.”
Steim’s mother, Sloan Sherman, testified that she stopped by Steim’s house with her younger brother and took some pictures of the children and their pumpkins.
“She [Steim] was just cooking pumpkin seeds,” Sherman said.
Steim’s friend, Nicole Bower, testified that later that night, another friend brought over an unspecified quantity of Busch Light beer in hunter-orange camouflage cans.
Bower testified that Steim had no alcohol.
Steim’s brother, Nathan Steim, also testified that his sister did not drink alcohol.
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Reporter Rob Ollikainen can be reached at 360-417-3537 or at rob.ollikainen@peninsuladailynews.com.
