Convicted of negligent homicide while drunk, woman has cocktails.

Kalispell woman convicted after fatal crash arrested again after drinking cocktails in Bigfork bar
Posted on June 7
By the Associated Press


KALISPELL - A woman convicted in a 2006 crash that killed a Bigfork man has been arrested after authorities followed up on a report that she was seen drinking a cocktail.

A jury convicted Kalispell resident Steffanie Schauf in April and she was released to await sentencing June 20. One condition of her release was that she not drink alcohol. The Flathead County Sheriff’s Department arrested the 27-year-old Schauf on Friday, after investigating a report that she was drinking in the bar area of a Bigfork restaurant.

The jury convicted her of negligent homicide, negligent vehicular assault and criminal endangerment. Prosecutors had pressed for a stiffer conviction, including vehicular homicide while under the influence of alcohol.
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Early on July 1, 2006, Schauf was driving a sports car that hit the back of a pickup truck and sent it down an embankment south of Whitefish. The crash threw 24-year-old Brett Adams of Bigfork from the truck and he later died of brain injuries. Two other people in the pickup were injured. Schauf’s car caught fire and passing motorists pulled her from it.

Prosecutors said her blood-alcohol level was more than four times the legal limit for driving in Montana.

Considerations for the jury included conflicting testimony about the level of her alcohol consumption before the crash, whether drunkenness or a head injury contributed to her combative behavior after the collision and whether the pickup’s brakes were applied before her car struck the vehicle.