Fresh off her acquittal on charges of drunk driving, Board of Review Commissioner Samantha Steele is crying foul over treatment by the media, critics and the state’s attorney’s office since she crashed a car on Chicago’s North Side in November 2024.
Following a two-day bench trial, Cook County Judge Donald Suriano on Tuesday found Steele not guilty, saying prosecutors had not met the burden to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that she was under the influence of alcohol. Steele and her attorney said the extent of the prosecution — a two-day trial with multiple witnesses — was uncommon.
“If I were anyone else, they wouldn’t have tried this because there was no evidence,” Steele told the Tribune.
Prosecutors alleged Steele was drunk when she crashed into two cars along Ashland Avenue and clearly showed impaired judgment. They called witnesses who testified they smelled alcohol, that Steele’s eyes were glassy or bloodshot or that she slurred her speech.
Police also found a bottle of wine in the passenger wheel well. Steele had resisted some orders from police at the scene until Scott Britton, a friend and attorney, advised her to over the phone, video showed. But the judge said that was not sufficient evidence and ruled she was not guilty.
Steele acknowledged she’d had alcohol earlier that day at a brunch, which was why the sealed bottle of wine was in her car. But the crash was several hours later and she said it happened because a tumor on her pituitary gland hit her optical nerve, affecting her peripheral vision. The tumor was removed last April, Steele said.
That medical emergency did not come up during the trial. Steele’s attorney, John Fotopoulos, said his team had prepared an expert witness from Rush University to testify about the effect of the tumor, but after the second day’s testimony broke in their favor, he said they didn’t need to call that expert up.
Asked why she didn’t assent to a field sobriety or blood test if the medical emergency was the reason for the crash, Steele said, “Any attorney will tell you not to. I mean, you don’t have to by law, and so I was just practicing my constitutional rights.”
Fotopoulos said he believed “because she was an elected official, the prosecution was over the top. A typical DUI trial usually lasts 20 minutes, maybe 40 minutes tops. This one went two days,” and featured seven witnesses. “They brought in a veteran prosecutor from 26th street to handle the case… I guess being an elected official, no one wanted to show favoritism and they definitely did not,” he said.
In an emailed statement, State’s Attorney spokeswoman Elyssa Cherney said, “In all cases, the CCSAO follows the evidence and the law regardless of a person’s status.”
“Driving under the influence endangers public safety and we take these cases extremely seriously,” Cherney said. “In this matter, CCSAO prosecuted the case because we believe the facts and the evidence demonstrated that the defendant violated the law.”
“While the court ultimately rendered its verdict, our office remains committed to ensuring that all individuals are treated equally under the law,” the statement said.
Fotopoulos said State’s Attorney “Eileen O’Neill Burke is a phenomenal prosecutor, Cook County is very lucky to have her. Even if Eileen O’Neill Burke came in herself to prosecute it, it still would be a ‘not guilty.’”
The state’s attorney’s office said the case was by the book, pointing out in an email to the Tribune that Steele’s misdemeanor charge was filed directly by law enforcement, and that their witnesses testified Steele appeared intoxicated. And the state’s attorney’s office said defendants are frequently convicted on DUI charges without field sobriety or blood tests.
Steele acknowledged her “behavior was inappropriate and I regret some of the things that I said” to officers that night.
According to police records and court testimony, Steele made a derogatory comment about one officer’s penis size while at the hospital and noted more than once that she was an elected official. “It was not my best moment, but I shouldn’t have been prosecuted the way I have been prosecuted so very publicly for that,” she said.
“I didn’t realize it was so serious, I was trying to make the situation not tense,” Steele continued. “The ‘I’m an elected official’ comment was out of context, that I know my rights. I was not asking for special treatment.”
An image of Cook County Board of Review Commissioner Samantha Steele from Chicago Police Department body-camera video footage taken during her arrest on Nov. 10, 2024, on DUI charges in Uptown after a car crash. (Chicago Police Department)
Steele alleged the Cook County Democratic Party and old foes at the Board of Review contributed to the pile-on. Steele said as a result of consistent online posts about the case, she received multiple death threats and had her personal address and phone number released.
The sheriff’s office confirmed last summer that they “opened an investigation into a series of threatening and disturbing electronic messages sent anonymously” to Steele.
Steele lost her primary re-election bid in March. She said she has no plans to leave Cook County and will continue work with her company, Leanor Group, a property tax consultancy.
“I plan to finish out my term and do a smooth transition,” Steele said. “We were able to unionize the office, so I feel confident the staff will be able to maintain their positions. So, I’ll just see where my professional career takes me in the property tax field.”
Fotopoulos said he’s been frustrated to see some public rush to judgment after the verdict.
“It bothers me that people think there’s a fix. There’s evidence that was tested, the courtroom was full, you had an excellent judge up there,” he said. “He’s a tough judge, very tough. I’m hoping people understand that there’s a high burden in our country, we have constitutional rights, this is a perfect example of everyone found her guilty and when she got her day in court she was acquitted. We should not run to conclusions and say this was a fix.”