Results of lost blood test admitted in S. Elgin reckless homicide case

A Kane County judge Wednesday denied a defense motion to exclude results from a blood test in a St. Charles woman's reckless homicide trial, even though police lost the original blood sample.

Judge Thomas E. Mueller said he could not legally dismiss the evidence from the trial of Erika N. Scoliere, 20, because its disappearance was accidental.

"There certainly is no evidence of bad faith in this case," Mueller said. "It was negligence and recklessness on the part of the South Elgin Police Department."

Authorities say Scoliere's blood was drawn about three hours after she was involved in a July 13, 2007, crash on Randall Road in South Elgin that killed 40-year-old motorcyclist Frank Ferraro. The sample reportedly showed Scoliere, then 17, had a blood-alcohol concentration of 0.115. The state threshold for being considered drunk is 0.08.

The defense sought to have the evidence excluded after police misplaced and possibly destroyed it along with evidence from several older cases that had already been resolved. Scoliere's attorneys argue there is no way to question or independently test the results without the original sample.

"The chain of evidence has been broken," defense attorney Stephen Komie said.

On Wednesday, the judge said that while excluding the blood evidence might be a "more fair resolution," case law prevented him from ruling "the way the court wished to rule."

Scoliere, now a college student, faces up to 14 years in prison if convicted of reckless homicide and aggravated DUI. Her attorneys have filed two additional requests to have the blood evidence thrown out, arguing police had not charged her with any crimes or obtained a warrant before acquiring the sample.

Assistant State's Attorney Steve Sims has said the blood evidence is the "heart of the state's case."

Scoliere returns to court Aug. 21.