PORT ANGELES — Amber Steim, accused of vehicular homicide while allegedly driving drunk, was booked into the Clallam County jail Wednesday after a court-ordered bracelet monitor detected alcohol consumption.
Clallam County Superior Court Judge Ken Williams set bail at $500,000, five times higher than her last bail posted 10 days after the March 6 wreck on state Highway 112 that killed 44-year-old Ellen J. Debondt of Crescent Beach.
Steim, 24, of Port Angeles is charged with driving with a blood-alcohol level nearly three times over the legal limit when she crossed the center line east of Joyce and hit Debondt’s vehicle head-on, killing her at the scene.
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.
Williams on Wednesday ordered that a court hearing must be held before Steim can be released on bail as she awaits a Feb. 13 trial on the two charges.
She was prohibited from consuming alcohol as part of the conditions of her last release from jail.
The alcohol monitoring bracelet reported that Steim had a peak blood-alcohol level of 0.058 percent Oct. 30.
Williams found Dec. 8 after a earlier hearing 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 the early morning of Oct. 30 at a social gathering at her house.
On Wednesday, Clallam County Prosecuting Attorney Deb Kelly, while arguing for the increased bail, called Steim a danger to the community and presented photographs from a Port Angeles bar’s Facebook page that she said showed Steim there on several occasions in January.
The photos from R Bar, located downtown, were taken before the wreck, but Kelly said they nonetheless show Steim violating conditions of release from a previous case in which she was convicted of negligent driving.
In that case, she was found to have been pumping gas in November 2010 while having a blood-alcohol level of 0.208 percent. Steim was convicted Jan. 25.
“She is someone that cannot be trusted,” Kelly said. “That’s what the evidence shows.”
Ralph Anderson, Steim’s attorney, said a $100,000 bail was reasonable and urged the court not to be swayed by the emotions behind the case.
Williams, while noting a report of friends drinking beer at her home, said he had doubts over whether Steim had the right support group to help keep her from drinking.
“The court is concerned that we need something else,” he said, while referring to the lower bail previously ordered.
Before Wednesday, Steim was last booked into jail March 15 when she was charged with witness tampering.
She was freed after posting a $100,000 bail. Steim had posted a $50,000 bail after her initial arrest.
Steim has pleaded not guilty to both charges.
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Reporter Tom Callis can be reached at 360-417-3532 or at tom.callis@peninsuladailynews.com.
