Amy Jacobson, radio host and reporter, said Cook County Board of Review member Samantha Steele was acquitted of DUI despite video evidence of her sideswiping cars with wine in her vehicle, then went on a media tour claiming a pituitary tumor blinded her.
“A judge, after reviewing all the evidence and the video of her sideswiping multiple vehicles and pouring herself out of her automobile complete with a bottle of wine in the passenger seat, decided she was found not guilty of driving while intoxicated,” said Jacobson in an episode of Chicago Contrarian, The Podcast. “She had a bench trial, and they brought a judge out of retirement who retired in 2016. He found her not guilty because there was no field sobriety test, no blood test, no urine test given—well, she refused all of them.”
“Normally, if you refuse to take a sobriety test, your driver’s license is suspended automatically for a year,” Jacobson said. “But her attorney got her license back in February, claiming the police acted improperly by not properly warning her of the consequences of refusing a field sobriety test. After being found not guilty, she went on a media tour and told Sarah Schulte from ABC 7 that when she said ‘Don’t you know who I am?’ she just wanted the officers to know that she knew the process. She also claimed she had a tumor on her pituitary gland that hit her optic nerve, which is why she was blinded and smashed into the cars.”
According to WGN-TV, Cook County Judge Donald Suriano found Steele not guilty after a two-day bench trial, ruling that while prosecutors established a “suspicion” of impairment, they failed to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that she was under the influence of alcohol despite body camera evidence and testimony from seven witnesses.
In this episode of Chicago Contrarian, The Podcast, founder Florian Sohnke discussed former Kim Foxx admitting under oath that she believed two men tied to a brutal 1998 double murder were guilty despite granting them certificates of innocence. Host Jim Bosco and guests Amy Jacobson, Jeff Fiedler, and Swincca also examined Walgreens store closures, a controversial DUI acquittal involving Samantha Steele, and Chicago’s so-called “criminal industrial complex” with former mayoral candidate Paul Vallas. Chicago Contrarian, The Podcast is a Chicago-based public affairs show focused on politics, culture, and civic issues shaping Chicago.
Chicago Contrarian, The Podcast is a Chicago-based public affairs podcast focused on news, politics, culture, and civic issues shaping Chicago. Founded in 2019 as part of the Chicago Contrarian platform, the podcast offers independent perspectives and thoughtful commentary on major events, local controversies, and the institutions influencing the city’s political and social landscape.
