Woman who killed utility worker in West Chester loses appeal

The 12th District Court of Appeals has upheld the conviction of a Cincinnati woman sent to prison for the 2015 crash in West Chester Twp. that killed Amber Rooks and injured three others.

In April 2016, Michele Schuster, 25, was convicted by a jury of aggravated vehicular homicide and three counts of aggravated vehicular assault and OVI for driving into a group of workers along Cox Road in April 2015. She was sentenced to 16 years in prison.

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On appeal, Schuster argued the trial court erred in allowing blood test results to be used at trial because the sample was not taken voluntarily.

A police officer at the scene testified he smelled an alcoholic beverage on Schuster. When she arrived at the hospital, the officer said she was screaming and incoherent. Believing Schuster was unable to refusing to give consent, the officer had a nurse collect a blood sample.

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In a unanimous decision, the appellate court disagreed with the defendant’s argument and found there was probable cause for the blood sample to be taken.

At trial, Schuster took the stand in her own defense telling the jury she was drugged before the crash with pills dissolved in orange juice by a man who befriended her while she was working at a strip club in Dayton.

Schuster said she had no recollection of the crash or anything after she met with a Sydney man that afternoon in Voice of America MetroPark and he gave her a drink.

But the jury believed the man’s version of what happened before the crash.

The man testified at trial he met with Schuster the day of the crash at the West Chester Twp. park. They smoked marijuana and ate fast food, but he said he did not drug her.

Both Schuster and the man, Kevin Bowman, are named in a civil lawsuit filed by one of the utility workers injured in the accident.

Joseph Oliphant and his wife, Anita, of Sonora, Ky., filed the lawsuit days after Schuster was found guilty.

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