Schuster, 24, of Cincinnati, was charged with aggravated vehicular homicide and three counts of aggravated vehicular assault, as well as misdemeanor OVI, in the April 22, 2015 crash that killed Amber Rooks, a 24-year-old mother, and injured three others last April.
UPDATE at 4:28 p.m., April 8:
The jury in the Michele Schuster trial began deliberations at 12:30 p.m., and had been discussing the case for several hours before they came out with questions.
Just after 4:15 p.m., Butler County Judge Keith Spaeth addressed their two questions and sent them back to continue their deliberation.
UPDATE at 10:54 a.m., April 8:
Closings arguments, which took about 90 minutes, are now over.
Burress was the last to speak, presenting his rebuttal to the defense’s closing arguments. He asked the jury why would Bowman testify he was in a sexual relationship with Schuster if he wasn’t.
“Seems a strange thing to do,” he said to the jury.
Burress said Schuster has a selective memory, and while she doesn’t recall anything about the accident that resulted in the death of Amber Rooks, she does remember orange juice and says she was drugged.
UPDATE at 10:28 a.m., April 8:
Defense attorney Lawrence Hawkins III said Kevin Bowman, a self-described “sugar daddy” to Schuster, was to blame.
Hawkins and Schuster claim Bowman drugged her on April 22, 2015, which caused her to be under the influence when she crashed into the utility truck that resulted in the death of Amber Rooks and seriously injured Joseph Oliphant and others.
Hawkins said that there was a cycle of abuse by Bowman of Schuster and she had to constantly rebuff sexual advances.
Bowman had previously testified he and Schuster had a sexual relationship, and he gave her thousands of dollars.
Hawkins said more evidence would have been found if there was a more thorough investigation by police.
UPDATE at 10:10 a.m., April 8:
Butler County Assistant Prosecutor Brad Burress minced no words in his closing argument in the Michele Schuster trial.
While he believes she was under the influence of un-prescribed drugs and marijuana, he told the jury that even if you doubt that, she was still reckless.
Burress told the jury to listen to the evidence, and when it comes to Schuster’s defense, there isn’t any. He said there was evidence of Xanax pills in her purse, and toxicology experts say Xanax was in her system as well as THC, the primary hallucinogenic found in marijuana.
UPDATE at 9:41 a.m., April 8:
Before closing arguments began, defense attorney Lawrence Hawkins III argued that the involuntary intoxication defense be part of the jury instructions when they deliberate on their decision in the Michele Schuster trial.
Butler County Common Pleas Court Judge Keith Spaeth said since there was no expert testimony to support the defense’s argument, the jury will not be instructed to consider the involuntary intoxication defense.
UPDATE at 4:49 p.m., April 7:
Day 4 is at an end and closing arguments will begin Friday morning.
Schuster was on the stand in her defense for nearly an hour. She testified she didn’t remember much of April 22, 2015, which is the day her car struck a utility truck in West Chester Twp. that fatally wounded Amber Rooks.
UPDATE at 3:39 p.m., April 7:
Schuster testified that she got food from Chipotle and got in the back of the truck. She doesn’t recall eating, or going to VOA Park with Bowman as he testified on Wednesday.
Schuster also testified she didn’t take any drug the day of April 22, 2015, and did not take any with her to West Chester Twp. She testified that she would have been happy to end the relationship because ‘it was like a game to him.”
She believes that Bowman gave her something in the orange juice.
Butler County Assistant Prosecutor Brad Burress is cross examining Schuster.
UPDATE at 3:30 p.m., April 7:
Schuster is refuting the claims that she had sex with Kevin Bowman, the man the defense claims drugged Schuster.
“He would try to make sexual advances and I would decline,” Schuster said on the stand, admitting they met at Harem, a strip club where she worked. “He would get mad.”
She said “he scared me” when he got mad after she turned Bowman down for sex.
Schuster said the relationship between she and Bowman was platonic, and said he was a father figure after her father died.
The day before the fatal accident on April 22, Schuster said she received a text from Bowman and they arranged to meet the next day in West Chester Twp. after his doctor’s appointment.
She said when she got in his truck on April 22, 2015, she drank orange juice from a McDonald’s cup that was in the truck.
UPDATE at 3:01 p.m., April 7:
The first witness after a lunch break was West Chester police Officer Joseph Buschelman. He took part of the search of Schuster’s vehicle, which this evidence was previously suppressed due to a bad warrant.
The officer said he found blue pills in her purse that was in the wrecked car.
Beth Underwood, a forensic scientist with the Bureau of Criminal Investigation, said they tested the tablets found and said it was Xanax.
The prosecution rested and Schuster will likely take the stand in her own defense when the defense team takes the stand.
UPDATE at 11:58 a.m., April 7:
On Day 4 of the Michele Schuster trial, toxicologist Phillip Quinton Carter testified he performed several tests on the 24-year-old’s blood.
The first test detected no alcohol, but it did test positive for TCH, an ingredient in marijuana.
Dr. Harry Plotnick took the stand after Carter. The attorney and toxicologist consultant evaluates the effects drugs have on people.
He said Xanax, a depressant, and THC, a hallucinogenic, both were in Schuster’s blood.
UPDATE at 3:45 p.m., April 6:
Bowman testified that he was “just a big sucker” and gave Schuster money after the April 22 accident, he testified. She allegedly told him she was starving. He had given her money in the past, saying it was thousands of dollars.
Day 3 in the Michele Schuster trial is at an end. Day 4 will resume Thursday morning.
Schuster is expected to be called to the stand Thursday afternoon, and closing arguments are expected to be delivered on Friday.
Make sure to follow the Twitter handle @LPackJN for live updates as the trial progresses.
UPDATE at 3:04 p.m., April 6:
During the cross examination of Bowman, he admits to having sex with women other than Schuster.
Schuster’s defense attorney, Lawrence Hawkins III, also asks Bowman about allegedly offering Schuster’s mother money for sex. Bowman denies the allegation.
Bowman said he spent only 45 minutes with Schuster on April 22 and dropped her off, then she went to the Cincinnati Premium Outlet to shop.
Bowman also testified that the “cold drink” he referenced in a text message to Schuster was about a soft drink he had, but said he never provided her with the drink.
UPDATE at 1:58 p.m., April 6:
Kevin Bowman, the Sidney, Ohio man the defense says drugged Michele Schuster, has taken the stand. He said he met Schuster at a strip club where she was a dancer.
Bowman said he had “constantly” given Schuster money — guessed thousands of dollars over the years — and has taken her shopping.
UPDATE at 1:40 p.m., April 6:
Elizabeth Kiely, a forensic toxicologist testified today she tested Schuster’s blood following the crash.
She said her blood tested positive for Xanex, but negative for any opiates or gamma hydroxybutyrate, commonly referenced as GHB.
UPDATE at 10:44 a.m., April 6:
West Chester police Officer Steve Seitzman took to the stand. He testified he was at the hospital on April 22.
UPDATE at 10:01 a.m., April 6:
West Chester Twp. police Officer Kevin Watson took the the stand this morning in day three of the Michele Schuster trial.
He took the crime scene photos of the accident where Schuster’s car allegedly crashed into a utility truck that fatally wounded utility worker Amber Rooks in April 2015.
Watson testified that he saw no skid marks left by the vehicle before crashing.
Amanda Burton, the emergency room nurse that took care of Schuster when she arrived at the hospital, testified after Watson.
UPDATE at 2:18 p.m., April 5:
Blake Patton was on the stand. He was in the bucket truck when the accident that eventually claimed the life of Amber Rooks.
“I get almost to the top of the (utility) pole and I felt a shove. It threw me,” he said.
Patton said he ran to Joe Oliphant and “held him.”
The trial has concluded for the day and will continue Wednesday morning.
UPDATE at 11:31 a.m., April 5:
Anita Oliphant, the wife of Joe Oliphant who was seriously injured in the crash that killed Amber Rooks, took to the stand this morning in the trial of Michele Schuster.
Choking back tears, she recalled seeing her husband unconscious in the hospital with a probe in his head. Oliphant said it took 11 days for her husband to regain consciousness, but he could not speak when he did. His rehabilitation took place in Louisville, she testified.
The first time Oliphant saw her husband walk on his own was in December 2015. The accident allegedly caused by Schuster happened on April 22, 2015.
Tiffanie McCants, who was working on the crew in West Chester, was also injured in the accident. She entered the courtroom on crutches. She still has back and leg pain, a pinky finger goes numb and a shoulder goes out, she testified.
The physical pain is not the only thing that she has troubles with nearly a year after that fatal accident. She has a hard time looking at the crash scene and seeing her injured self, with co-workers, on the ground. She saw the car roll over Rooks.
UPDATE at 10:17 a.m., April 5:
Witnesses took to the stand in the trial of Michele Schuster, who stands accused of aggravated vehicular homicide, among other charges, that resulted in the death of Amber Rooks.
Chrisa Gooding testified she saw Schuster’s car go left of center, striking the utility truck and then spin around. Laura Digennero also saw the 24-year-old Cincinnati woman’s vehicle veer over into the other lane and hit a utility truck.
After she saw that, Digennero said she “threw (her) car in park, threw my keys and started running.” That’s when she saw Rooks, a 24-year-old mother, with a serious head trauma.
West Chester police Officer Jeff Newman testified Tuesday. He was working as a safety officer for the workers.
“I heard a loud explosion, turned around and (utility worker) Joe (Oliphant) was flying through the air.”
He testified that Schuster’s car’s engine was still racing after the crash.
Original story at 5:43 p.m. April 4:
The woman who drove her car into construction workers on Cox Road, killing one person, was drugged by a man who wanted a romantic relationship with her, according to her attorney.
Michele Schuster, 24, of Cincinnati, is charged with aggravated vehicular homicide, three counts of vehicular assault and three counts of aggravated vehicular assault as well as misdemeanor OVI, for a crash that killed Amber Rooks, a 24-year-old mother, and injured three others last April.
“Michele was drugged,” her attorney Lawrence Hawkins III told a jury Monday. “There was a crime committed, but it wasn’t by Michele. It was by the person who drugged her.”
Prosecutors say Schuster was impaired by un-prescribed Xanax on April 22 when she plowed her car into construction workers.
Nearly a year after the West Chester Twp. crash, a jury of four men and eight women will now decide Schuster’s fate. The trial is expected to last most of the week.
During opening statements, Assistant Butler County Prosecutor Brad Burress said a witness will testify that she saw Schuster’s 2004 Chevy Cavalier go completely left of center and plunge toward the construction workers without braking.
“She operated the 2004 Chevy Cavalier with un-prescribed Xanax in her body that impaired her ability to safely drive,” Burress said. “This defendant left a path of destruction in her wake. She left four human beings in a crumpled mess.”
But Schuster did not knowingly consume the drug, according to her attorney.
Schuster began a platonic friend friendship with a married man in his 50s who would help her with school and occasionally buy her things, Hawkins said. At some point, that man wanted the relationship to turn romantic , but Schuster refused.
On April 22, Schuster agreed to meet the Sidney man at a restaurant off Tylersville Road. At the meeting, the man gave Schuster a glass filled with ice an an orange liquid, which she drank.
“She consumed the beverage and blacked out,” Hawkins said, adding the next thing the defendant knew, she was coming to in the hospital.
The prosecution is expected to call the workers injured in the crash, with the exception of Joseph Olephant, 53, of Sonora, Ky., who is still not able to testify due to his injuries.
The defense has issued subpoenas to the man who they say drugged Schuster.
Rooks, of Cincinnati, died May 2 from injuries she sustained when she was hit by the car.
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