Overview
- Steele, charged over a 2024 Chicago crash, was found not guilty by Judge Donald Suriano on Tuesday after a two-day bench trial.
- The judge said the evidence rose only to suspicion of intoxication, while prosecutors said the facts supported a DUI under the law.
- Illinois allows DUI convictions based on officer observations without breath, blood, or field tests, a point the state’s attorney’s office stressed.
- At trial, four officers, a doctor, a nurse, and a civilian said she appeared intoxicated, and an arrest report cited an open wine bottle, bloodshot eyes, and the odor of alcohol.
- Steele denied drinking, cited a pituitary tumor that she says blurred her vision, refused sobriety tests, and says a viral body‑cam video brought threats and hurt her failed reelection, though she has not ruled out a return to politics.