Defendant testifies in fatal crash

The night before she rear-ended a pickup truck on U.S. 93 south of Whitefish, leaving one man dead and two other people injured, 27-year-old Steffanie Ann Schauf watched TV with her boyfriend and hung out with her new dog - a white German shepherd.

She woke up the next day about 9:30 a.m., worked out at about 11:30 a.m., and then took a two-hour hike near Heron Park with her dog. She arrived for work at the Pollo Grill early, a few minutes before her 5:30 p.m. shift was scheduled to begin.

After serving 36 people and punching out at 11:06 p.m., she went to the restaurant's bar and drank two glasses of wine and a few sips from a third - a white wine new to the menu she ended up not liking and discarded.

She left the restaurant at 12:30 p.m., put down the soft top to her blue Mazda Miata convertible, and had a chat with a co-worker while he smoked a cigarette.

Schauf spoke with her boyfriend on the phone and drove twice through downtown Whitefish - packed on a warm summer's night with crowds of bar-goers - but was unable to find another co-worker she had considered meeting up with.

"You know, I wasn't quite sure what I wanted to do," she told the court.

After giving up the search, Schauf drove down Baker Avenue and merged onto U.S. 93, traveling

southbound. She passed a couple of vehicles.

There her memory ends, she testified Friday.

"I have no recollection of the accident," she said from the witness stand. "I don't recall anything until I woke up in the hospital."

As Schauf's trial reached into its sixth day, defense attorney George Best

called witnesses to testify that the pharmacy school graduate's physically and verbally combative actions after the crash were a result of a head injury, not alcohol.

Captured by Montana Highway Patrol trooper Martin Schrock's onboard camera, Schauf was unsteady on her feet, hysterical and uncooperative. She yelled profanities at Schrock and tried to kick out the doors of the trooper's patrol car.

"It's very clear she did have brain trauma," clinical neuropsychologist David E. Nilsson told the court, referring to the possibility of post-traumatic amnesia or an adult version of shaken-baby syndrome.

Prosecution witness Paul Bach, a neuropsychologist from Missoula, has testified there was no evidence that Schauf suffered a head injury in the accident.

Accused of causing the drunk-driving accident that killed 24-year-old Brett Adams, Schauf pleaded not guilty in May 2007 to amended charges of vehicular homicide while under the influence of alcohol, negligent vehicular assault and criminal endangerment, all felonies.

The case is expected to go to the jury for deliberation this morning.

In their closing arguments Monday, prosecutors asked the jury to use their common sense and look at the evidence as a whole.

"We have eyewitness testimony, accident reconstruction, and experts to prove [Schauf] drove recklessly under the influence," said Deputy County Attorney Lori Adams. "We have proven the defendant is the cause of this accident. And we also have evidence she was impaired."

Prosecutors allege Schauf was driving southbound at about 1:30 a.m. on July 1, 2006. As she neared the Happy Valley area, her car plowed into the back of a pickup truck driven by Christopher Gray.

The impact sent the truck rolling down an embankment, ejecting Adams. Adams was taken to Kalispell Regional Medical Center, where he later died from severe brain injuries.

"As a result of her behavior that morning, and only her behavior, Brett Adams is dead," said County Attorney Ed Corrigan.

Gray was taken in serious condition to Kalispell Regional Medical Center with broken bones and a punctured lung. A second passenger, who sat between Adams and Gray in the truck, was treated for minor injuries and released.

Schauf's Miata also went into the ditch, where it caught fire. Two passing motorists pulled her from the vehicle. She suffered three bumps on the head, according to testimony put on by the defense.

Prosecutors challenged jurors to find the injuries on her booking photo.

Authorities with an investigative subpoena drew blood from Schauf after she refused to give a breathalyzer test at the scene, eventually discovering that her blood-alcohol level was .34 - more than four times the legal limit of .08.

But defense attorney Best told the jury in his closing argument that Schauf was neither drunk nor negligent.

"Our job is to seek the truth," he said. "It is more probable that she is innocent than she is guilty."

On a table before the jury, Best lined up the number of drinks he said the 138-pound Schauf would have had to consume in the time between leaving work and the crash.

The table held - depending on Schauf's alleged drink of choice - more than a dozen beers, a dozen shots and almost three full bottles of wine.

He also challenged prosecution testimony that the pickup truck never braked before Schauf slammed into it, forwarding a theory that a Jeep driving alongside the pickup cut Gray off. That theory was backed by the defense's own accident-reconstruction expert.

Prosecution witness Paul Blotter, a mechanical engineering professor from Utah State University and an accident-reconstruction expert, had testified that Schauf's car was going 80 to 87 mph and Gray's pickup was going 65 to 68 mph when the collision occurred and there was no indication of either driver braking prior to the collision.

But the measurements taken by Larry Tompkins, a forensic engineer from Vancouver, Wash., who also specializes in reconstructing accidents, from the photos were inconsistent with a Highway Patrol drawing of the accident and Blotter's calculations.

If convicted on all counts, Schauf faces up to 50 years in prison and a $110,000 fine.

Reporter Nicholas Ledden can be reached at 758-4441 or by e-mail at nledden@dailyinterlake.com