PORT ANGELES — Amber Steim, who is charged with vehicular homicide while driving under the influence of alcohol for the death of a 44-year-old Crescent Beach woman, was ordered Thursday to perform community service for violating parole in another case involving alcohol.
Steim violated parole stemming from a negligent-driving conviction in January by missing self-help classes she was required to attend, according to court documents.
The 24-year-old Port Angeles woman had a blood-alcohol level of 0.208 in November while pumping gas into her car at a Port Angeles convenience store.
The legal limit in Washington state is 0.08 percent.
She was charged with physical control of a vehicle while intoxicated, but that charge was later lowered to negligent driving.
Steim was sentenced to 40 hours of community service during a Clallam County Superior Court hearing.
Steim will be tried Dec. 5 on charges of vehicular homicide and witness tampering after a March 6 wreck that killed Ellen J. DeBondt on state Highway 112 between Joyce and Port Angeles.
Alcohol level
Steim had a blood-alcohol level of 0.239 percent after the wreck, police said.
DeBondt, 44, was a home health nurse affiliated with Olympic Medical Center.
Steim and her passenger, Nicole Boucher, had minor injuries.
Steim is accused of contacting Boucher to fabricate an excuse involving alcohol.
She is free on a $100,000 bond.
Judge Ken Williams denied a motion for a change of venue during a hearing in Clallam County Superior Court on July 21.
Port Angeles defense attorneys Ralph Anderson and William Payne had cited the standing-room-only crowds at Steim’s various court hearings and extensive coverage in the local media in their motion requesting that Steim’s trial be moved to another county.
Williams then delayed ruling on a motion to sever the witness tampering charge from the vehicular homicide case.
If Steim is convicted of both vehicular homicide and witness tampering, she faces a sentence of between three and four years in prison and a $50,000 fine, Deputy Prosecuting Attorney John Troberg has said.
