Dancing through the loopholes

Posted by Ken Campbell December 2, 2011 0 Comment 1058 views

The trial of Amber Steim was set to begin in August, wasn’t it? That date didn’t hold up and soon slipped to October, then to December. I think the current idea is that it will start in February, but who the hell really knows.
Whatever her lawyer is being paid, he’s earning it. His pompous paper-shuffling and phlegmish harrumphing have effectively put an end to any notion of a timely justice and the alleged killer remains free on bond, with all of her bail time counting toward her eventual sentence. Theoretically, if he can stretch it out long enough, his client could be sentenced to time served, which effectively means that she’ll get away with murder.
On Monday, however, there’s a chance that Steim could be remanded back into custody for failing to meet the terms of her release. It seems her monitoring bracelet picked up elevated levels of alcohol in her system right around Halloween, which she is claiming came as a result of her getting her hair colored the day before. Uh huh. The upcoming hearing, set for 9am on December 5th, will determine whether she should remain free – to get her “hair colored” a few more times – or whether she should wait out the rest of her pre-trial phase in the Port Angeles calaboose.
Confession is supposedly good for the soul but at this point, after all the evasion and legal tap dancing, any assumption that the defendant has a soul at all has to be viewed with some skepticism. If nothing else, maybe a change of scenery might prod her attorney to proceed with a little more alacrity. For a big man, I suspect he can move quickly when he wants to.
The hearing is at the Clallam County Courthouse in Port Angeles on Monday, at 9am sharp. Ellen DeBondt’s family have asked that as many people as possible show up to remind the judge and the community that Ellen’s memory lives on and that we are all – including Amber Steim – still waiting for some justice.

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