Blood samples admissible in fatal S. Elgin crash
An appellate court panel has ruled that blood samples from a St. Charles woman accused of driving drunk and killing a motorcyclist in July 2007 should be admissible at trial.
The appellate court’s decision overturned a 2009 ruling by a Kane County judge that blood samples taken from Erika Scoliere after the fatal crash were not admissible in court.
Further complicating the matter is that the blood samples were mistakenly destroyed.
“Erika’s got to decide (by May 5) whether she wants to take this to the (Illinois) Supreme Court,” attorney Stephen Komie said Wednesday.
Scoliere, 21, of the 3N900 block of Emily Dickinson Lane, faces charges of reckless homicide in the death of Frank Ferraro, 40, of South Elgin.
Scoliere is accused of being drunk when Ferraro’s 2005 Kawasaki motorcycle struck her 2003 Ford Escape on July 13, 2007 while she was turning at the intersection of Randall and Silver Glen roads in South Elgin.
Testimony from previous hearings showed her blood alcohol concentration from a blood draw three hours after the crash was .115. The legal threshold for drivers is .08.
But Judge Thomas Mueller ruled in August 2009 that South Elgin police lacked probable cause to take blood from Scoliere, that she did not give consent, was never asked to perform field sobriety tests and she was misinformed of her rights, court documents show.
“She was not under arrest, nor had she been issued a traffic citation or summons,” Mueller wrote in part of his ruling.
The appellate panel disagreed, saying Scoliere’s lawyers failed to present any evidence that Scoliere, who was 18 at the time, “did not knowingly and voluntarily consent to the blood test,” was not misled by police and had her parents with her while being questioned.
Even if the ruling stands, Komie predicted problems with the case.
“There are a lot of problems with this case. The blood has been lost,” Komie said. “You can start a car as long as you have gas, but it doesn’t mean you’ll get to the destination.”
Scoliere faces up to 14 years in prison if convicted.